


i know it's just a number, but you're the eighth wonder

by blushandbooks



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020), julie and the
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Theatre, F/M, rated teen for swearing and some fun times lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29555025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blushandbooks/pseuds/blushandbooks
Summary: luke does what luke does best: be impulsive and stupid.unfortunately, it lands him the punishment of being forced to participate in the school musical - but fortunately, julie molina is willing to guide him through it.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 87
Kudos: 281





	i know it's just a number, but you're the eighth wonder

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bluefire510](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluefire510/gifts).



> THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A GIFT FOR BLUE FOR FANART SHE MADE ME AND TURNED INTO A 20K MONSTER BECAUSE I GOT EMO AND STARTED PROJECTING
> 
> shoutout to the music man for being a great show even tho none of the jokes are funny and i rip on the soundtrack a lot
> 
> theater!Luke au that no one asked for except for blue
> 
> title from wilson (expensive mistakes) by fob!!

Suspension would have been better, Luke was certain of that. Literally anything would have been better. Expulsion would have been better. Two weeks with no gigs would have been better- 

Well, actually, he doesn’t know about that. He doesn’t want to think about that. 

But forced participation in the Winter Musical?  _ They may as well have sent him to military school.  _

What were they thinking? 

Maybe it wasn’t so smart to break into the school at night just to use their good-quality mics and recording devices. Maybe breaking three locks was immoral and totally stupid, but it was in pursuit of helping Sunset Curve make a demo tape! It was an investment in his future, and Luke didn’t know why he was being penalized for trying to get ahead. 

(Maybe if his parents supported him more, he wouldn’t have had to break into the school. You ever think about  _ that, _ Emily?)

It didn’t help that his two best friends were right behind him, plugging in the mic and setting up the amps and turning on the computer. It was a total band-bonding moment -- although it excluded their drummer, who, logically, predicted the catastrophe following their mistakes. 

“You three are idiots,” Alex shook his head the Monday that their punishment was dealt. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse. At least now I have a reason to audition with you.”   
  
The three other bandmates skid to a halt; other students in the hall behind them almost completely running into them. “Wait,” Luke says, hand lightly slapping on Alex’s shoulder, “you were thinking about auditioning? What about the band?”

“What  _ about _ the band? You’re all stuck doing it now, so I may as well join you.”

“I’m probably going to tech or something,” Reggie cuts in, raising his hand as if he is in a classroom. The rest of the band looks at him, confused. “You know, like, lighting and set stuff? Isn’t tech what she called it?”

Bobby speaks up next. “Look, the worst that can happen is we audition and have to dance for a couple of hours. It’s really no big-”

Someone laughing closeby cuts off the rhythm guitarist; and the four boys turn their head to face three girls huddled around a locker outside of the music room. Luke recognizes the halo of curly brown hair as none other than Julie Molina -- practically considered a music prodigy around school, and even someone with Luke Patterson’s God complex could concede that her voice was amazing. 

However -- not when she was using it to laugh at him. 

“Something funny, Molina?”   
  


The three heads of Julie Molina, Flynn Whitman, and Carrie Wilson turn to face Sunset Curve, all with amused smirks on their faces. 

“I mean, kind of. It sounded like you guys were saying the Winter Musical wouldn’t be that big of a commitment?”   
  


The girls at her side chuckle.  _ “What’s so funny about that?” _ Reggie whispers to Alex, but the blond only shrugs. Luke takes a teasing step closer to his classmate. 

“Yeah… So? We’re kinda being forced into it, I don’t know if you heard-”

“That you broke into the school to record your next demo?” Carrie jumps in, glaring particularly at her cousin, who avoids her eyes. “Trust me. We all heard.”   
  
“Very gutsy, Patterson,” Julie continues, “but the musical is definitely a fitting punishment. Maybe it’ll teach you some discipline.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

His neurons are firing with irritation, and Julie is tilting her head up to boldly meet his eyes. Even as the school bell rings to usher the students to their next period, they continue to be caught in a staredown as their friends, with concern, watch on. 

Luke Patterson doesn’t let himself be stopped by obstacles. Even when those obstacles are corny school musicals with jazz hands and clicking heels; and especially when those obstacles are 5’2” girls with fierce voices and wide eyes. 

Julie’s locker slamming shut is what finally gets him to blink. 

“You don’t really have a choice, right?” She asks coyly, already distancing herself. “I’ll see you at auditions tomorrow. Break a leg.”

Luke’s eyes linger on her as she retreats down the hall. It’s not like the two of them have ever been enemies, or hated each other -- they just have personalities that don’t blend well. And maybe he likes annoying her on purpose, just to watch her nose scrunch in his direction. 

“Dude,” Reggie lays a hand on his shoulder, “you should literally just do the lights and shit with me. Way less stress.”

Luke shakes his head; still staring off into the distance. “No, no,” he shakes his head. “I’m auditioning.”

\--

Luke knows that this is way more than he bargained for the moment that Alex tells him that auditions will span two days -- and that Luke has to show up to  _ both days.  _

“Don’t I just act and get it fucking over with?” He asks, abrasively shoving his way into the auditorium alongside his band and other attention-hungry theater kids. The sheet music to  _ Now Or Never _ is getting wrinkled between his hands. “The fuck do they need two days for?”   
  
“Musicals are acting, singing, and dancing,” the drummer calmly replies. “Today we act and sing, tomorrow we dance.”

_ “Dance?” _

Bobby scoffs. “Sometimes, you’re such a fucking idiot-”

“RED RO-BIN!”

_ “Yum!” _

The boys jump at the sudden voice booming over the sound system and the chorus of teenagers responding in unison. They feel frozen in place on the stairs near the nosebleeds as Flynn, Julie’s friend, saunters onstage alongside the Drama Department Director, Miss Harrison. 

“Oh my God,” Reggie whispers, awed. “I think we joined a cult.”

Luke’s head nods rapidly. Cult is the best way he would describe it.    
  


“Don’t worry,” a familiar voice quips behind them, squeezing herself through their bodies quietly while Miss Harrison starts greeting people. Julie throws Luke a blinding smile. “We don’t make you drink the Kool-Aid until opening night.”

Stuck between her words and her smile, the guitarist finds himself taking a heavy gulp; and watching Julie as a lively girl in a yellow crop top waves her over to a row of seats. Luke identifies the rest of the group as Carrie and the rest of the girls from her singing group, _ Dirty Candy.  _ The five of them shuffle in their seats around backpacks and binders before settling, and staring intently at the stage where Miss Harrison is encouraging everyone to quiet down. 

The firm hands of his bandmates pull him into a dim row of chairs close to the back, and he wordlessly follows. 

“Good afternoon, everybody!” Already, students are clapping for the director. “For those of you who are new or don’t know me, I am Diana Harrison, the Los Feliz High School Theater Arts Director. Welcome to auditions for this year’s production of  _ The Music Man!” _

The cheers this time around are more raucous. Even Reggie and Alex join in for the hell of it.

“Hopefully you all know what the next two days have in store, but if you don’t: Today we will do some fun acting exercises while myself, our costume designer and choreographer Mr. Covington, and our assistant director observe. The last hour will be for your singing auditions. Tomorrow afternoon, you will come back here dressed comfortably and ready to learn choreography of one of the routines. Does anyone have any questions?”

“When are you taking our audition forms?” A masculine voice shouts from the audience; the silhouette waving a piece of paper around. 

Miss Harrison nods. “Hi Nick. Flynn will be collecting those as you come up for your singing auditions!” She pauses, awaiting more questions. “... Anything else?”

_ “What the fuck am I doing here,” _ Bobby groans into his hands. Luke rests a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and nods because  _ yeah, he already wishes he stuck around in Mrs. Lessa’s office to hear what his other options were because this might kill him if his pre-show street dogs don’t. _

The rest of the auditorium remains silent -- except, when he peers down at Julie and her friends, they are excitedly nudging each other.

_ How does anyone find this appealing? _

“Great!” Miss Harrison bursts with a jolting clap of her hands. “Everyone, please join us on the stage so that we can start some Zip Zap Zop!”

“Zip Zap  _ What?”  _ Three of the boys turn to match Reggie’s confused expression, all of them expression a variation of shrugging shoulders and shaking heads. “Well, you guys have fun. I have to go talk to some chick about lighting. If they start holding hands and singing in a circle, signal me and we’ll leave.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t a joke. Maybe the four of them are idiots, but the mutual head-nods exchanged as Reggie parts from them to approach the lighting booth don’t even hold a crack of a smile. 

Alex is the only one who feels a glimmer of positivity; standing between Bobby and Luke as a swarm of theater kids makes their way down the rows of seats to be onstage. “C’mon, you guys. Face first. Full charge.”

With his jean chains rattling down the wide steps, Luke scoffs. “Can you not use my own lyrics against me right now? Thanks.”

“Dude, you wrote them,” the drummer’s hands go up in surrender. “If you’re going to make it through this without threatening to throw yourself off of the catwalk, then try and channel that energy.”

_ Luke doesn’t even know what the catwalk is, but it sounds like a place he can jump off of if things get too bad, so he remembers the name for later. _

Reaching the edge of the stage, the trio turns around in sync and hoists themselves to sit on the edge of the stage; then kicking their legs up to spin on their butts to be sitting facing away from the audience. 

They are met with not-so-subtle glares from the other students auditioning. 

“That was your first mistake.”

Julie, taller from him at this angle and wearing a smirk on her face reminiscent of the one from the hallway, approaches Luke. The other Dirty Candy girls -- who Luke now recognizes as Trix, Ophelia, and Chloe -- drift behind her, eyes lingering on Sunset Curve before going to socialize with everyone else. 

Luke squints up at her. _ “What?” _

Shockingly, like a truce, Julie’s hand appears in front of his to offer him help standing up. If it was anyone else, he would roll his eyes and get up himself.

But this is Julie Molina, in case you forgot. 

_ And there’s something enamoring about her.  _

So, like a good boy, Luke takes her hand and allows her to tug him up in front of her -- ignoring the way that he feels comforted by her hand in his grasp -- as she breaks down how he already seemed to offend most of the people there. 

They don’t drop hands once he’s up. “You guys just… Jumped on stage? We have a nice auditorium, and anyone using it is encouraged to use the wings-” She gestures to where the stage stretches out along the sides of the auditorium to meet the carpet- “To avoid fucking up the edges of the stage.”

“We sat on it. We didn’t even scuff-”

“I know, it's just-” She starts, catching on her words as she tries to work out what to say. Unaware, Luke’s thumb slides across her knuckles;  _ it’s okay, you can tell me. _ “It’s just that a lot of us practically live here when we do these shows. The drama department uses this auditorium more than any of the other arts. We’re very protective over it.”

It sounds so stupid. Really, like  _ what the actual fuck _ , but Julie’s fingers are still casually wrapped in his and the stage lights are reflecting in her eyes as she looks up at him and maybe he can find it in himself to not vocally mock the Los Feliz theater community. 

“Gotcha,” he nods instead. Their hands, still conjoined, swing between them. “You’re probably going to be a big help these next few months. I don’t know shit.”

“Clearly,” she drones, but there’s a smile on her face. 

Daringly, Luke steps forward. “You’re not going to get any shit from the Twinkle Toes about associating with me, right? They all seem to hate me already.”

Finally, he gets a laugh out of her. It’s short lived, and more laughing at him than at his amazing sense of humor, but it’s something, For good measure, he gives an extra boost to their already swaying hands to make them fully swing back and forth. 

Not like he’s trying to make their acquaintance known to the people who were glaring at him earlier, but if it does do just that, then he won’t say that's a bad thing. 

“You give yourself way too much credit, Patterson.” Just then, Flynn’s commanding voice starts to urge everyone into a circle for acting warm-ups. Julie gives their joined hands a final tug before pulling away, and even though the stage is warm from the lights, Luke’s hand receives a rush of cold air. “C’mon. You can stand next to me as long as you do everything that I do and do not question a thing. If you hesitate you lose tempo, and if you lose tempo they won’t like you any more than they do right now.”

“This feels so cutthroat,” he remarks as he positions himself between Julie and Alex. “Is it always like this?”

“Only for newcomers,” she mumbles. “They’ll warm up to you eventually.”

Before he can come up with a response, Flynn is breaking down their first game, and doesn’t hide her stares towards him and the boys when she asks about people who “haven’t heard of” whatever game before. 

  
Luke, despite his problems with authority, does his best to follow everything that Julie does and says. 

At the end of the day, Alex is right -- face first, full charge; only so that he won’t resort to violence at some point during this whole process. 

\--

After stumbling through games that used way too much arm movement like  _ Zip-Zap-Zop _ and terrifying improv games like _ I Am A Tree _ , the boys had dragged through the most dreaded part of auditions and made it to the part that they were more confident about: Singing auditions. 

_ And no, that is _ not _ sweat that Luke is wiping off of his forehead after warm-ups, he just needed to run his hand over his face because he felt like it.  _

But he was tired. He was already fucking tired; and Julie and Carrie were bouncing around like their morning coffee just kicked in. 

“Dude,” Bobby hits him on the shoulder, “what the fuck do they put in their water?”

Alex jumps next to them not long after. “I asked. Trix said something about crack, but then her and Ophelia laughed and I got the feeling that it was a joke.”

Oh God. Crack jokes. They were truly surrounded, weren’t they? 

_ Would this be them at the end of this three months? _

“Okay everyone,” Flynn shouts, “please go back to your seats so we can start our singing round of auditions! When I call your name, you will provide me with your audition form, give Miss Harrison your sheet music, and stand on stage. After you do your slide, set the tempo for Miss Harrison, and then the stage is yours for 16 bars! Any questions?”

Internally, Luke has a thousand questions, none of them which he actually could tell you. There’s just a general knot of confusion tied up in his head, and he doesn’t know how to untangle it; or if anyone else would be able to help him untangle it. 

He chooses to stay quiet in his seats, and wait to watch examples from the other kids. 

Nick Danforth-Evans is up first, because he’s an attention-seeking overachiever who craves validation. If you can’t tell, Luke doesn’t like or trust the guy at all -- he just gives off “pick-me” vibes. 

His singing doesn’t suck, though. Could definitely be better (Luke’s voice is definitely better) but it’s fine, probably strong enough for the lead. 

(Luke doesn’t even know what the lead is. He assumes it’s whoever “The Music Man” is.)

A couple of okay auditions pass. The Dirty Candy girls all sound fine, and Carrie does surprisingly well despite obviously pushing her voice further than it is meant to go. All of the guys sing some song called  _ Santa Fe  _ \-- the band has never heard of it, but apparently it’s popular -- and Alex and Bobby are the ones to break the streak by singing Sunset Curve originals. 

When Julie’s name is called, Luke leans forward in his chair. 

_ Finally, time for a real audition.  _

He doesn’t recognize the song she’s singing, but she introduces it as a song from Hamilton. In anticipation, Luke waits for the music to start and for Julie to unleash her power -- and when she does, it doesn’t disappoint. 

Her voice, like that of a siren, reverberates along the walls of the auditorium and rings in his ears addictingly. It’s a voice that he knows, with full conviction, will earn its proper place front and center; because even he has thought about asking Julie to be in the band. 

But seeing her, in the spotlight, with nothing but a piano and her vocals; he knows that she belongs here, with standing ovations and thrown roses. Not moshpits and grabbing hands. 

One thing he notices is how she sings each note with care, still managing to sound as if she is speaking to the audience through her booming voice. For a moment, it fills him with panic-

He doesn’t know how to sing like that. Luke Patterson rasps into a mic and belts out the necessary notes; he doesn’t talk to his audience as he’s trying to get the party started. 

So, when she sits down, he does the one thing he can impulsively think of: He approaches his guide. 

“Julie,” he appears next to her, drawing a surprised gasp from her lips. “That was amazing. Seriously, holy shit, you were-”

“Thank you, but Luke, we really shouldn’t be trying to talk over-”

“How do I sing like that? Like you did?”

The audience lights are dimmed, but Luke can still catch the confusion etched into her forehead. “What do you mean ‘like I did?’ Do you mean like… Like more theatrical?”

That’s probably what he meant. So he nods.

“Yeah. Theatrical. How the fuck do I-”

“Luke Patterson?” Flynn asks into the mic. Fear runs cold down Luke’s spine and into his gut; and a hand on his shoulder lightly nudges him up. Julie is urging him to go onstage. 

“Okay, uh, I honestly don’t know how to explain it but don’t do your raspy thing and sing with your whole voice. Talk through your singing, drag out the necessary notes, and project as loud as you can. Break a leg.”

His eyes are frozen open as he gapes at her -- this is it? He really has to- 

_ “Luke Patterson!” _

Another soft shove is applied to his shoulder, and a small grin from Julie is what finally convinces his legs to follow his brain’s instructions. “Break a leg, Patterson. You’re in no matter what, remember?”   
  
She’s right. He knows she’s right, but there’s still an element of need to prove himself in front of Miss Harrison, in front of the other students,  _ in front of Julie _ . If he’s going to be the outcast, he’s going to be the badass outcast who has a killer voice. He’s going to build himself a reputation. 

With a final grin and grateful nod to Julie, he briskly makes his way down the stairs to hand his audition form to Flynn. After a hesitant glance to Bobby and Alex (and Julie), he takes the long way to the wings of the stage and smiles as he hands his sheet music over to Miss Harrison. 

“Your slide, Mr. Patterson?” Mr. Covington, the costume designer, asks with his eyes fixed on the crumpled audition sheet. There is a dead attitude in his voice, and Luke already gets the unfortunate feeling that this guy will not be a walk in the park. 

“Yeah, sorry, uh…” He takes a deep, semi-nervous breath. “My name is Luke Patterson, and I will be auditioning with an original song titled  _ Now Or Never _ .”

After making quick eye contact with Miss Harrison and setting the tempo for his audition, he locks eyes with Julie, opens his mouth, and takes the jump.

\--

Dance auditions go… Awkwardly smooth. 

Luke trips his way through an overly-jazzy routine with Alex totally showing off at his side, and his eyes end up trained on Julie the whole time. The way she stands in the front row, with her dance shoes clicking around and her arms gracefully waving in the air as she follows Carrie’s instruction through stretching. It all comes so naturally to her in a way that Luke never expected to be envious of. 

He also follows the dramatic escape of one of her curls from her bun to distract him from his burning leg muscles, but that’s a fact he’ll keep to himself. He doesn’t want to sound like a weirdo who stares at girls’ hair. 

(No matter how pretty their hair is.)

Luke doesn’t realize how much he’s been glancing at Julie until she approaches him after the audition is over; removing her hair from the bun so that her hair twists and turns around her face and over her shoulders. When she jokingly asks if he was looking at her ass the whole time, he responds with the truth:   
  
“Well… I kinda just thought that whatever you were doing would be the thing I’m supposed to be doing, and nobody else would be doing it better than you.”

Whether or not it can be blamed on the exercise, Luke pockets the pink flush on her neck for future consideration and notes to himself that he definitely needs to keep reminding her that she is saving his ass in every possible way. 

Two days later -- a Thursday, which feels like such a weird day for such a big moment -- the cast list is physically posted on two pieces of printed paper on the door to the auditorium; just minutes before the first bell rings. 

In the dumbest way possible, Luke and the boys find themselves among the hoard who are waiting to get a good view of the cast list before suffering through the rest of the school day.

The guitarist pushes himself through, ignoring hissed murmurs and direct glares, finally reaching a spot where he can read the names on the paper. 

First, he checks ensemble. His name is nowhere to be found -- only Bobby’s.

Next, his eyes trace the supporting roles -- Alex has a named role, someone called Marcellus, but once again Luke’s name is void from the list. 

What the fuck? Miss Harrison told him he would be in the show. He had to be. This was his consequence for breaking into the school, and yet his name was somehow forgotten? Reggie was the only one joining tech. Why wouldn’t he be-

Julie, also fighting against her peers to the front of the crowd, accidentally nudges his arm as she positions herself next to him. 

It’s only then that Luke thinks to check for her role -- which, to nobody’s surprise, is listed at the top; indicating a leading role. 

_Marian Paroo_ **_Julie Molina_**

And as his eyes wander, a familiar name catches his eye. It’s right below Julie’s, another leading role, except-

_Harold Hill / The Music Man_ **_Luke Patterson_**

No fucking way. 

_ No.  _

_ Fucking.  _

_ Way.  _

_ “No fucking way,” _ a recognizable voice utters, completely shocked. Luke knows the feeling; it’s what is currently running through his veins and trying to come up with some semblance of how this could all be a joke. There is no way he scored the lead. The fucking Music Man. 

Luke knows he doesn’t deserve this. This musical is supposed to be a punishment, not a full-fledged commitment to being the lead in a show that he knows nothing about and nearly nothing about what this position entails. He wasn’t supposed to be given a leading role -- Nick, who has been involved way longer, has probably been pining for this opportunity for years. 

And it isn’t his.  _ God, this isn’t going to help Luke’s rep with these drama kids, will it? _

But then Julie’s hand is wrapping around his wrist -- some sort of acknowledgement, he supposes -- and the two of them look at each other at the same time, and there’s frozen surprise but also comfort. 

If he’s going to be onstage, he’ll be sharing it with her. 

_ Can’t be that bad, right? Julie’s… Julie’s amazing. She’ll help him.  _

(Or she’ll get tired of him really fast, stop showing him sympathy he probably didn’t deserve in the first place, and he’ll be on the shit list of someone as phenomenal as her. That’s not where he wants to be.)

Maybe he’ll get to do this with her in the show: The standing close, locking eyes. He could happily stay like this as long as anybody needed him to. 

Unfortunately, their bubble of confused confirmation is popped by the one person Luke should have expected: Nick. 

“Is this a fucking joke?”

With a sigh, Luke squeezes his eyes shut, knowing that an angry mob of drama kids are going to be waiting right there to kick his ass. He knows, quickly, what the mess is: He got a leading role as a first-time involuntary participant over a long-time member of the program. 

It isn’t fair. Luke knows that. 

But Julie’s hand, concerned, grasps his wrist a little tighter and he knows even more that he’s not going to fight against this or get into it with Nick. 

_ Face first, full charge.  _

Shooting Julie a quick smile, Luke makes his way through the bodies that have gathered around the doors, towards Bobby and Reggie and Alex, and takes note of the commentary that trails him. 

_ “Nick should have gotten that role.” _   
  
_ “Nick deserves that role, who the fuck does Patterson think he is?” _   
  
“Miss Harrison made her choice,” a strong voice insists; bringing a smile to Luke’s face as he continues walking away. “And no matter how… How  _ unfair, _ or  _ random _ , or  _ insane _ it may seem, she has her reasons. If you have an issue, take it up with her. Not Luke.”

The band is slapping him on the shoulder with congratulations and mixed concerned looks, and Luke knows that this will be the leading topic of conversation all day. And then he’ll have to go home and tell his parents that him leaving for band rehearsal is now him leaving for play rehearsal, which doesn’t sound much better to him but probably will to them.

He still doesn’t know how the fuck this happened. But there’s an introductory rehearsal tomorrow, and maybe he’ll be able to talk to Miss Harrison then, because fuck-   
  
Luke doesn’t know how the hell he’s going to do this. 

\--

Julie Molina is not an overdramatic person -- but she doesn’t know how the hell Luke Patterson is going to do this. 

She doesn’t mean it to sound as rude as it does, because it is only the truth. Luke is not a bad guy by any means; he’s a talented musician in a rock band who puts in minimal effort at school but he is a really nice, respectful guy to his classmates. He’s also a total goofball and idiot half of the time, but in a certain context, it is more endearing than annoying.

_ No, Julie doesn’t know why she likes him so much, or why she feels protective over him; so stop asking. Even she gets internally defensive about it, which is why she always finds herself snippier than usual in his presence. _

But anyways, Luke is so many things… He’s just not a theater kid. He has zero experience. 

Tech Week is probably a foreign concept, who knows if he’s willing to put in the weekend work to help techs with set building, and the costumes alone will send him into a complaining frenzy. 

And he’s Julie’s scene partner. 

This is her senior year production; something that she’s been working for in the department since freshman year. It’s not that she is mad that Luke is cast aside her, but… 

There’s a chance he’ll hold them back. 

He’s expressed apprehension over being pushed to participate, and now his negativity -- if it continues as she expects -- runs the risk that they will have zero chemistry, the show will be lackluster, and the joy of the experience will be drained. 

Now that she’s overthinking it, Julie feels like she is in deep shit. 

  
So she does the one thing she deems reasonable: Having a conversation with Miss Harrison, whom she adores.

It’s lunch time when Julie makes her way to the small blackbox theater that lies adjacent to the auditorium. The smaller theater is reserved for Miss Harrison’s drama classes and a rehearsal space, and, of course, it is where Miss Harrison’s office is. 

The lead raps her knuckle against the door lightly as Miss Harrison scrolls through a webpage on her computer. “Miss Harrison?”   
  


The director spins around, dropping her fork into her bowl of salad and grinning happily at her student. “Julie! Come on in,” she gestures to a seat that is propped against the wall. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to bother you,” Julie exhales, dropping her bag to her side. “I just… Wanted to talk to you a little. About the cast list. About…”

“Luke?”

Caught and relieved, Julie releases a tense chuckle. “Yeah, actually. I’m not questioning the casting decision -- even though I guess I was a little surprised -- but, you know, seeing as how he doesn’t have very much experience and we all know that it wasn’t his choice to be in the show-”   
  
Miss Harrison gives her a pointed look. It makes Julie panic, and she feels heat rise in her face, but she pushes through. 

“-and I’m just… A little nervous. I don’t want him bringing the rest of us down, and I don’t want to be a babysitter for him all the time trying to hold his hand through everything. So I wanted to express my position in this and see if you have any advice on how to handle him if things get rough. You know I am all in for this show, and I would like to think he’d have the same excitement, but I just don’t think we’ll get it.”   
  


Miss Harrison takes her sweet time lifting a mug of steaming coffee to her mouth; a small grin on her face as she does so. Julie doesn’t appreciate how amused Miss Harrison looks, but the two of them are close. 

She hopes that her mentor can understand. 

“Jules,” she starts, the mug resting back on her desk with a light clink. “First of all, this is your show. I will be monitoring everything the whole time, and I will handle Luke if things get out of hand. Don’t worry about him. Worry about you, and how you’re going to steal the show.”

Julie can’t help but smile at that. 

“And as for his energy, or being his babysitter, I have a feeling that he’s going to find himself a little more into this than he expects. You know the feeling -- it just sucks you in. You’ve already made him feel welcome. I can tell. Your chemistry will be flawless, I can promise that, and if he needs handholding -- I’m pretty sure that as the person who cast him, it would be my job to help him through whatever he needs. Not yours. I’ll take care of it, Hun.”

To be honest: It’s the response that Julie is expecting. 

It is a total and complete “teacher” response -- the “don’t worry about it, it isn’t your responsibility” talk. And while a pang of annoyance struck at the line, the rest of Miss Harrison’s monologue managed to deliver some comfort. 

She has faith in Luke. And if Julie can just take an atom of that faith and hold onto it, then maybe everything will be fine. 

“Okay,” Julie mutters, nodding to herself in an effort of self-assurance. “Okay. Thank you, Miss Harrison. I’ll… I’ll keep all of that in mind.”

“Like I said, Jules, I have a feeling he’s gonna be hooked. That’s my hope, anyway. This show is going to be killer. And we need you as a strong leader.”

Hearing Miss Harrsion’s encouraging words strikes Julie a little deeper since she doesn’t have a mom around to reaffirm the same ideas. Miss Harrison has become a type of a mom in the last four years -- lenient, supportive and forgiving when Julie took a step back from performing her junior year after her mom’s passing, and welcoming her back with open arms. 

Blinking away stupid, spontaneous tears, Julie nods once again as she tugs her backpack over her shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll see you at first rehearsal tomorrow.”

“See you then, Hun. Have a good day.”

Julie and her teacher share warm smiles before the student turns to leave the office. “You too.”

\--

The auditorium is buzzing with the excitement of the 50-person cast on Friday afternoon, minutes before the first official rehearsal commences. 

Reggie has scattered off to talk to the Stage Manager; leaving Alex, Bobby, and Luke to sit slightly strayed from the main cluster of the cast that is grouped in the frontmost, center section of auditorium seating. 

The chatter in the large theater is almost buzzing with electricity -- and Luke can only see pure, unadulterated joy on his classmates’ faces. He’s so used to being in a pack that solely consisted of the four boys that make up Sunset Curve; and now, seeing people with their feet draped across each other’s laps and huddled close together in conversation, Luke wonders what it’s like to belong to a found family this big. 

He isn’t used to being surrounded by so much happiness -- it  _ is _ a high school, after all -- and he is certainly not used to being so comforted by it, either.

_ Oh God. It’s already getting to him.  _

“Are you excited?” Alex asks him and Bobby, eagerly running his hands up and down his legs. 

Bobby scoffs. “No.”

“I don’t know.”

Both Bobby and Alex look at him incredulously, like they weren’t actually expecting a neutral answer. The two of them were clearly anticipating more direct negativity that matched Bobby’s.

“Dude,” the rhythm guitarist starts, “what happened to ‘ew, theater kids, what the fuck, I don’t wanna do this?’ Has the parasite already multiplied up there or something?” 

For good measure, Bobby repeatedly flicks the side of Luke’s head as the latter swats him away. They are lightly wrestling for a good minute before Bobby finally lays off; leaving Alex shaking his head with disappointment. 

Suddenly, the blonde’s eyes catch on something. “Who’s that?”

His two friends follow his line of sight to a guy with long brown hair who is talking to Reggie by the ropes that manage the curtains. Mystery Guy is appearing to give Reggie some sort of introduction, and when Luke glances back at Alex, and then again at Mystery Guy, it clicks- 

This guy is attractive. And Alex is now in love. 

“I don’t know,” Luke shrugs; now over the drama since he has connected the dots. “We can ask later.”

“He’s pretty, Alex. You should talk to him once this shit is over.”

Shushing Bobby for fear that someone would hear, Alex shrinks back into his chair. “That’s a no for me. And I’m never telling you about guys ever again. You’ll expose me in less than a minute.”

“Dude, literally most of the people here are gay. You need to...”   
  


Supposedly, Bobby and Alex continue their brotherly back-and-forth. But Luke starts to tune them out, because as he’s once again dragging his eyes over his new castmates, he finds himself lingering on Julie. 

_ If there’s a reason that he isn’t going to hate this entire thing, he’s betting that it will be her.  _

She’s sitting on the left edge of her cluster of friends, talking to the orange Dirty Candy member and running a hand through her hair as she laughs. Soon after, they fall into a less humorous and more serious talk, with orange -- Trix -- glancing over in their direction occasionally.

Finally, Julie does the same. 

  
And he’s still looking at her.

Shit. 

Their gazes lock, and surprisingly, Luke doesn’t awkwardly look away and try to brush it off as nothing. He meets her eyes fully and confidently; trying to even send her a little kind smile when she raises her hand and gestures for him to come over. 

Oh. 

_ “No,” _ he mouths at her, worried that he’s just intruded on something. 

Chuckling -- God, has she alway looked so nice when she smiles? -- she shakes her head and looks at him with mirth. “All of you, Silly!”

Julie doesn’t mouth it -- she calls it out across the aisle at him. It even coaxes Alex and Bobby out of their married-couple bickering to try and search for the source of the louder comment. 

Gaping at her, Luke haphazardly swings his left arm back to nudge the guys. “We’re moving.”

“What?”   
  
He’s already looping his small backpack around his shoulders; sending Julie a nearly breathless smile because-

Well, he doesn’t know why. He feels included. He feels relieved. 

Once again, he feels like she will be his saving grace. 

“C’mon,” he urges the guys, standing in front of them impatiently. “We’re going to sit by Julie.”

Bobby grunts as he reaches down to get his own bag. “Simp.”

“Not a simp, just being nice.”

(He’s a simp. It just hasn’t hit yet.)

When Luke approaches Julie’s side of her group with his bandmates in tow, Julie strikes with another welcoming grin and nods to the empty seat at her side. 

Taking his bottom lip between his teeth -- almost trying to restrain his smile -- he slides his bag down his shoulder and settles into the chair right next to her. “What’s this for? Too painful to watch us outcasts brood in the corner? Taking pity on my poor, theater-virgin soul?”

Julie snorts through her laughter at his dramatics. “I hate to remind you of this, but we’re leads. Sometimes, when the leads are friends, it’s good for cast morale.”   
  
“... So it isn’t a requirement? Not more fine print in the contract I unknowingly signed when I broke into the school?”

“... No.”

“Just you being nice?”

“... Yeah. I mean, us being friends isn’t a radical thought is it?”

The word settles deep between his ribs with a warm, relaxed safety. 

_ “No!” _ Luke slaps himself at how insistent and hopeful he sounds. “No, Julie, that is definitely not a radical idea.”

His internal  _ that’s the way I want it  _ remains unsaid. 

\--

The first rehearsal isn’t actually a real rehearsal at all. 

It’s a warning. 

Luke hisses panicked questions in Julie’s ear as Mr. Covington goes over the need for the guys to buy a certain type of shorts and dance shoes and Flynn is passing around the calendar. In fact, he finally realizes what Julie meant when her and her friends were laughing about the boys not treating it as a big commitment-

He has rehearsal four out of the five days in their week. 

Two days for learning the songs, two days for learning the dance routines or blocking scenes, and that morphs into all-cast rehearsals to run everything back-to-back, and that leads to Tech Week. 

“Julie, why does it say we’re gonna be at school every day of the week until 9pm?”

“Oh, that’s a typo,” she mutters as she leans into him to scan his calendar. “It’s normally more until 10pm.”

“What the fuck? Is that even legal?”

Julie slips in her next comment with a smirk that shouldn’t be as distracting to Luke as it is. “I’m pretty sure breaking into the school is the only illegal act performed by anybody here.”

Defeated, he slouches down into his chair. “I know.”

What follows after raging anxiety over the stressful schedule is increased distress over the thick script that is passed around. Flynn directly approaches him and Julie first; pointedly assuring that they are the primary recipients of the hard copy. 

“Marian Librarian,” the assistant director jokes in a reference that Luke doesn’t understand as she passes the script to Julie. Then, she turns to him. “Music Man.”

The bound stack of paper falls into his lap. 

_ The Music Man. _

And, upon further investigation, he’s not only in almost every scene but he has so many songs. Three of which are solos in which he is carrying most of the weight, and the other two are duets with Alex and… 

And Julie. 

Luke doesn’t know anything about this show. But when he sees a stage direction near the end that states  _ HAROLD and MARIAN kiss _ , he quickly short-circuits. 

He also makes a mental note to Google the show tonight. Probably would be a smart move seeing as how he’s the titular character, huh? 

(And seeing as how he has to kiss Julie, apparently? Do they fall in love too? Fuck. He’s in for it.)

“Scared yet, Patterson?” His scene partner hums next to him as she flips through her own copy of the script, already taking a highlighter to her lines. Just another mental note. Invest in a highlighter to do whatever Julie is doing. 

“Been scared since you made fun of me in the hallway, Molina.”

The final order of business in this first rehearsal is to pass out permission slips for the musical retreat to a nearby campground. As Julie passes Luke the pile of blue forms for him to take one and continue passing on, her hand overlaps with his, and she grips it best she can with the papers in her hands at the same time.

“You have to go to this, okay? I promise, swear on my life, that you will have fun. The food is good and the activities are fun and we start learning some of the music and dance routines.”

Amused by her demands, Luke thumbs the corner of the paper as he scans the description of the trip. “Didn’t we go to this camp on a class trip in elementary school or something?”

“Yes, but I swear, it’s so fun. You’ll get to play lap tag,” she informs him like it is the neon-sign selling point of her pitch. There’s one issue:   
  
“I don’t know what that is, Julie.”

“Well, come, and you’ll see. I promise to be your partner too.”

“Jules!” Flynn calls out as she continues passing papers around; suddenly forgetting her duties because her offense is more important. “I’m your lap tag partner!”

“Luke needs me, Flynn! There’s more than one round! I’ll be your partner at some point probably, I just need to make sure Luke feels safe.”

“It’s lap tag, Jules, he’s not going to be safe no matter what. And you’ll get crushed by his arms.”

“Then I’ll have him sit in my lap instead.”

“Then he’ll drag you across the floor.” 

“Hold on,” Luke jumps in, suddenly alarmed, “I’m not going to-”

_ “Ladies!” _ Miss Harrison calls out, effectively cutting off the two girls in their rapid back-and-forth that was distracting Flynn from her job. “Let’s not scare the newcomers nor spoil the experience for them, yeah?”

The dizziness that Luke feels from how fast his head is spinning indicates that it’s too late -- the newcomers have already been deeply frightened. 

“I don’t-” He starts, but catches himself because he doesn’t even really know what he wants to say. To get her attention, he taps his knuckles on Julie’s shoulder. “I don’t know what this game is, but I don’t want you to get hurt, so we probably shouldn’t-”

“I’ll be fine, Patterson,” she interrupts him with a soft hand on his bare arm. “I’m made of steel. You should be more worried about yourself. We’re cutthroat when we want to be.”

Julie’s ease at which she approaches everything stuns him sometimes -- because she seems like the opposite kind of person. And in moments like these, Luke can only shake his head and feel a kick in his heart that is urging him to get to know her better. 

“Oh, I don’t doubt that.”

He doesn’t doubt that they’re cutthroat. He doesn’t doubt that she’ll be alright. 

_ He doesn’t doubt that she’s indestructible.  _

\--

Wikipedia is a godsend, honestly; because it tells Luke everything that he needs to know about  _ The Music Man.  _

First of all, apparently his character Harold Hill is a fraud; which is ironic considering Luke himself feels the same way. A wolf in sheep’s clothing; a rockstar who hustles for his band who is temporarily singing about “76 Trombones” in heavy stage makeup. 

The second fun thing he learns is that dear old Nick is playing Charlie Cowell, the character that goes the whole show with a plan to expose Harold for being a fraud. 

_ Ha. Ha.  _

The third, and most unsurprising yet most unexpected thing, is that Julie’s character is Marian; a librarian who sees through all of Harold’s bullshit and falls in love with him anyways. Harold apparently finds himself reevaluating his choices and faces his lies head-on because Marian helps him and defends him. 

Luke doesn’t really know how to act, but he starts to get the feeling that it won’t be hard with Julie right next to him. 

(He also listens to some of his songs, two of which sound especially hellish. He can’t wait for Miss Harrison’s hair to start falling out when she tries to teach him those.)

He even goes as far as texting Julie -- whose number he got at the first rehearsal -- just to send what he hopes is a message of encouragement:

_ Just listened to some of the music. You’re totally gonna kill your solos _

It’s 1 AM when he sends it, and he almost has a heart attack when his phone vibrates with a response minutes later. 

_ Lol. i’ve only listened to one of my solos so you’re officially more educated than i am. I listened to some of your stuff tho… can’t wait for you to learn the 1912-equivalent to rap :) _

Luke lets out an audible laugh -- he knows which song she’s referencing -- a fast-paced rant to music titled _ You’ve Got Trouble  _ \-- and he’s looking forward to watching himself fuck it up, too. 

_ You and me both. No idea how tf i’ll pull that off. At least you’ll be there to laugh at me _

_ Nowhere i’d rather be, music man ;) _

In that moment, he changes her contact name to  _ Marian Librarian _ 💜, and falls asleep smiling. 

\--

Despite the fact that it’s almost busier than the band, Emily and Mitch are overly-supportive of Luke being in the show. His mom even goes as far as making a checklist of things for him to bring on the weekend retreat, and arranges his duffel bag to be sitting atop his bed the moment he gets home. 

A part of it stings. They don’t care how busy he is -- they just don’t want him in a band with a music-centered career. 

(Even though Luke would be lying if he didn’t admit that the other part of it, the parental support and attention, didn’t make him ache for a little more. Maybe that’s an intrinsic motivation for him to not rebel against being in this show.)

_ Okay this question might gross you out but do people seriously use the communal showers there orrrr _

_ Marian Librarian _ 💜:  _ tbh no nobody does. just wear clean clothes n deodorant and brush your teeth and we should all be good. Its just two days  _

_ thank god _

In the week leading up to the retreat, there weren’t any rehearsals -- so Luke would resort to occasionally texting Julie about the upcoming trip or general commentary about school. He didn’t text her every day obviously, because that would be disgustingly annoying and be a one-way ticket to Julie getting sick of him. 

No, he isn’t obsessed with Julie, but he respects her. She has the guidance he needs. 

And… She’s pretty cool. 

On Friday, the cast still has to go to school, but they are excused from their last two periods to load onto their bus and begin the hour-long trip out of town to the cabin property where they are staying. Everyone quickly drops by the blackbox theater to drop off their backpacks -- maybe with a journal or two to do at least a little homework on the ride down -- and pick up cabin assignments.

Expectedly, Luke is in a cabin with all of the guys and luckily not Nick. There’s a couple underclassmen in his cabin too, but according to Flynn it's a way to start bonding between the younger and older students. 

He doesn’t know how well he’ll be able to stomach a bunch of brace-faced, overexcited guys; but he will have to figure it out. 

For now, he’s squishing himself into the very far back bench of the old school bus in between the window and Alex; not-so-patiently waiting to see Julie tumble through the doors. She told him to come on this trip, but she is certainly taking her own sweet time to join them on the bus. 

A ways down the aisle, he spots Flynn sitting leaning against the side of the bus with her legs draped across the entire seat. She is busy typing away on her phone, not even focusing on her friends that occupy the seats in front of and behind her. 

“Miss Harrison!” She suddenly shouts, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Julie got a pop quiz in her fourth period that she just finished. She’s on her way. Are we good to wait another two minutes?”

Luke doesn’t really listen to Miss Harrison’s response, because he knows that they will wait as long as they need to for Julie Molina. He just feels bad that she got hit with an exam that obviously held her up. Can’t teachers not be assholes on Fridays? 

Now especially impatient, Luke’s eyes remain fixed on the sliding bus doors; even occasionally drifting towards the walkway leading to the parking lot. Eventually, a familiar mane of brown hair flies into view, and Julie’s steps echo through the bus with their volume. 

Luke notices instantly that she looks like she is on the verge of tears. 

“I’m so sorry, Miss Harrison,” she insists with a shaky voice. “I am so sorry. He just threw it on us, and then I was having a really hard time, and-”   
  
With a reassuring hand on the girl’s arm, Miss Harrison gives Julie a soft smile. “It’s okay, Hun. Take a seat. We’re gonna head out.”

As he watches Julie, with sagging shoulders, take her seat; he is overwhelmed with the urge to check on her. He hopes that they’ll be able to walk around with a little more freedom once the bus is on the road, but for now he is left staring from behind as her hands swipe at her cheeks. 

Flynn, wordlessly, brings her in for a hug. 

“You look upset,” Alex observes from Luke’s right. “Julie?”   
  
He shifts his eyes and looks out of the window with a shrug. Denial at its finest. “Just shitty that she’s starting off this thing that she was excited for by worrying about a stupid test.”

The drummer chooses not to comment. But Luke sees his head turn from Julie’s direction to Luke’s, and back again, and he can only imagine the ideas that are brewing in his friend’s head. 

At last, the bus starts rolling. The moment that the rubber hits the dark pavement of the street, it’s Chloe -- the yellow-adorning member of Dirty Candy -- who stirs a group conversation. 

“Okay, who’s gonna start it? Who brought the speaker?”   
  
Sunset Curve is quick to look at each other, panicked. 

_ Is the sacrificial ritual about to begin?  _

“I got you,” a satisfied Flynn responds. “Gimme a sec and I’ll hook it up.”

Everyone who isn’t a freshman or a newcomer cheers; even Miss Harrison. Luke and the guys are clearly dumbstruck with confusion, and that is the moment that Julie chooses to peer over her shoulder. 

Luke’s eyes find hers. They look less watery than they did when she got on the bus, but Luke can see on the poor girl’s face that she had a bad day. 

Julie, human sunshine, gives him a small smile. 

His leg jerks forward; a physical response to his want to get up and talk to her for a minute. Just to say hi. Apologize for the rough day. 

But his impulse is killed by Flynn announcing “okay everyone, it’s ready! I’m pressing play!”

Her small bluetooth speaker starts blaring familiar notes in the next second -- and over all of the screaming from the cast members, he recognizes the song as  _ Bohemian Rhapsody.  _

_  
“Oh, shit, I love this song!”   
_

“Alex, everybody loves this song.”

__

Bobby vocalizes his agreement, while Luke only provides a small nod. He’s distracted by the way that Flynn is nudging Julie with her shoulder followed by Julie shaking her head, and more nudging. The back-and-forth lasts the entire opening piano sequence, and the first couple of lyrics until Julie abruptly sits up on her knees for a little more height, and-

__

_ “Mama, life had just begun,” _ she starts to absolutely belt over the raucous singing of the other bus occupants.  _ “But now you’ve gone and throw it all away!” _

__

There it is. The awe that comes with bathing in the talent of Julie Molina. 

__

Luke knows he is gaping at her -- “you’ll catch flies,” his mom would tell him -- but he cannot find it in himself to care. Let the flies come. Julie is singing  _ Bohemian Rhapsody  _ with every bit of passion and emotion that she can muster. 

__

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Julie is a star. But as all of the other previously singing voices die out to leave her in harmony with Freddie Mercury, Luke feels indescribably flooded with attraction towards her raw talent. Her voice has power. More power than any of them deserve to witness for free. 

__

He is in true awe of her.

__

The power seems to move everyone on the bus, even her; because a few students are caught wiping their eyes after she ends her solo and the song kicks up. 

__

Everyone is too busy whispering to each other about how amazing she is to recognize the tears on her own face. 

__

But Luke sees them, and he takes it as a cue to walk over to her. 

__

He’s a little dumb; he knows. But he’s an impulsive, all-in kind of guy. If his brain has the spontaneous idea of getting out of his seat as the bus takes a corner and shuffling down the aisle just to say hi to a girl he just started to get to know -- then that’s what he’s going to do. 

__

But not before he almost trips over Alex’s legs when the bus swings around a corner and Luke tries to take a step towards the walkway. 

__

“Fuck, Dude, what are you doing? It’s too late to go to the bathroom. 

__

“I know, fuck, just move your long ass legs. Jesus.”

__

“You’re the one who wanted the window seat.”

__

“You’re the one who saved it for me.”

__

Instead of continuing the back-and-forth, Alex mutters some sort of mocking impression of Luke’s last spoken sentence as the latter finally breeches the leg barrier into the aisle. It’s a few steps to Julie, and when he’s at her side, he squats down. 

__

“Hey, Rockstar,” he greets her when she catches him next to her. “That- That was fucking amazing. Are you alright?”

__

Even with red-rimmed eyes, she finds it in herself to tilt her head and furrow her eyebrows at his question. “I’m… Fine?”

__

She isn’t -- he knows. But she understandably does not want to discuss it on a packed moving bus, so he reaches up and thumbs at the stray tear that had slid down her face and onto her neck. Julie looks a little frozen at the unwarranted contact-

__

(He can’t tell, but her pulse is speeding up-)

__

-but lets out a small, breathy laugh when he flips his wrist to reveal the now-damp pad of his thumb. 

__

“Cool. I’m glad you’re okay.” An agreement passes between their eyes. “Queen suits you. You should sing it more often. Hell, we should throw out the whole musical and just make the show you on a stage singing Queen’s greatest hits.”   
  
Julie sniffles with a laugh. “You’re just saying that because you don’t wanna wear a searsucker suit.”

__

“I’m sorry, a  _ what?” _

__

This was news to Luke. He has no idea what the fuck she’s talking about, and it must be pretty clear; judging by how she laughs so hard that a snort slips out. She covers her mouth not a moment after.

__

Luke’s heart kicks at the sound, though. He can’t even fight the grin that stretches across his face, even if she’s laughing at him.

__

“Nevermind. You’ll see.”

__

More inside jokes that he has yet to be let in on; or more facts he has yet to learn. 

__

It’s alright. If he can keep making Julie snort when she laughs, then he’ll be fine waiting a little. 

__

\--

__

Julie’s in Cabin 8. He’s in Cabin 7.

__

It’s 3 AM, past lights out, and he is wide awake while the rest of his cabin, including the parent chaperon, is asleep. 

__

In his head, he is trying to replay the pieces of a dance routine that Mr. Covington was trying to teach them for the dance number called -- no joke -- “Shipoopi.” It was a lively and energetic routine that Luke luckily did not have to learn the entirety of at the end of the day, but even leads were encouraged to learn some of the key partner steps in case it was decided to have them do it in the show. 

__

Julie was his partner, and was surprisingly sympathetic to him dancing like a baby deer. Half of his coordination issues were due to an actual lack of dance experience and the other half was because-

__

It’s so weird to explain-

__

He wasn’t used to holding somebody close to him, spinning them around, touching them at all times and moving them with you to the music. 

__

The ease in which Julie was picking up the choreography and leading him through it was distracting, especially when every time he tripped he was tripping closer to her. The two of them were a mess of hands and hair and spinning around and it eventually felt like they were hardly paying attention to Mr. Covington’s choreography as they just tried to move with each other. 

__

Maybe he was lying awake thinking less about the choreography and more about her gripping his biceps to keep him from falling on top of her, but he doesn’t have to admit it. 

__

All he knows is that he is wide awake, needs to get out of this cabin, and feels like talking to someone. 

__

It is surprisingly simple to pop open one of the big cabin windows and jump onto the nearby ground without so much as a loud noise. 

__

The next temptation is the worst one -- Julie’s cabin sits idle and dark to his right. It wouldn’t hurt just to peek through the window, right?   
  
If everyone is asleep, no one will see him. 

__

If someone is awake, he’ll run away and make them think they saw something. 

__

(He’ll also strike strong fear in the hearts of every young woman occupying this camp. Yes, he’s an idiot. Don’t remind him.)

__

It’s a brief moment where he is weakened and finds himself pressing his forehead into the cold, dirtied window to see if there was any activity or signs of life. Now that his eyes are peering into the one-room cabin lined with bunk beds, he realizes in the dark that he wouldn’t be able to see Julie anyways-

__

But then a body sitting on the bottom bunk and wearing a light shirt stirs, and sits up. Staring at him.

__

Luke ducks with a pounding heart; slipping away back into the night and congratulating himself on winning the “Dumbest Bitch Alive” award for 200th day in a row. He wants to run, but out of the fear that it will somehow cause more of a disturbance, he chooses instead to tiptoe away from the back of Julie’s cabin and in between two of the structures towards the grassy quad area. 

__

_ “Luke?”  _

__

A soft voice hisses at him through the dark. He can’t identify the source, and questions whether or not God has finally decided to punish him for…

__

Well, a lot of things, probably. 

__

“Luke, what are you doing out here?”

__

Oh, shit. It’s Julie. She’s in front of him, tugging on the sleeves of an oversized sweatshirt and hesitantly walking towards him. 

__

“Shit, Julie, uh- I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

__

He cringes at himself. Maybe God would have been a more ideal source of the voice. 

__

“I was awake,” she responds, suspicious. “... Were you outside my cabin? By the window?”

__

As he scratches the back of his head, Luke’s voice raises an octave. “May-be…? But, but before you kill me and bury me in the forest, I swear I was just seeing if you were awake. I felt like hanging out with someone.”   
  
“None of your friends up for the task of entertaining you in the middle of the night?”   
  
“I, uh… I didn’t ask them. I was kinda just feeling like hanging with you.”

__

Her frustration at him waking her up at an ungodly hour by lurking outside of her window seems to dissipate into… He can’t tell. It’s dark. But she looks pleasantly surprised.

__

“Well, you got me out of bed. So lets hang out. What did you have in mind?”

__

In the end, they do what Luke does best: Break into someplace. 

__

They go to the big activity space where their dance rehearsal had been hours before. It’s not as much of a Mission: Impossible-type break-in like the school was -- all it takes is just some fiddling with an old window, and he’s helping her in first like a gentleman. 

__

“You wanna go over the routine again, don’t you?”

__

Luke gives her his best, most illuminating smile. “Guilty.”

__

And so the next thirty minutes is spent identically to their earlier practice -- hands and spinning and laughs that ring through the now empty space. When he is supposed to spin her into his chest and then twirl her back out, he lifts her up instead and spins the two of them around until he is almost sure that her giggles are loud enough to wake up the entire camp.

__

Somehow, every moment spent with Julie turns Luke into a pile of mush. He doesn’t know how it happened-

__

(Probably her kindness, sense of humor, talent, confidence-)

__

-or how he is going to make it through this whole show without doing something stupid over her. 

__

(Spoiler alert: He will. Just not tonight.)

After dancing, they collapse onto the floor next to each other and decide that more exercise combined with sleep deprivation is a recipe for taking a nap on the thin carpet. 

“Was the rest of your day better?” Luke mumbles into the darkness. “It seemed pretty rough earlier.”

“Like I said, I’m fine. Calculus just fucks with me sometimes, and my aunt puts a lot of pressure on me and my grades. I’m only allowed to do this show if I can keep a B- minimum in all of my classes, and I just got all freaked that I did poorly on the quiz and that it’ll bring my grade down.”

He finds himself frowning. His parents pressure him, but at this point it’s more of a “please graduate on time and don’t fail anything.” 

“I’m sorry,” he offers. “That’s shitty. I’m sure Flynn told you, but you probably killed the quiz. And there’s no way your aunt would take this show away from you. You’re the backbone of this whole thing.”

The compliment gets Julie to hum with a small smile. “I know. That’s why it’s important I do well.”

The two of them fall back into comfortable silence. Luke shouldn’t linger on Julie’s emotions as a friendly topic of conversation, but one thing keeps nagging at him. 

“Bohemian Rhapsody got you pretty hard, too, it looked like.”

“It’s an emotional song,” she deadpans. 

And that’s all he needs. The direct, obvious deflection gets him off of the topic for the rest of their night. Maybe, sometime in the future of the chaos they are about to endure, she’ll do him the honor of letting him in. 

But he can’t expect anything from her now. They just became friends in the last two weeks; but it feels like longer.

Luke needs to get it together. Face first, full charge -- but maybe take it easier when it comes to Julie. 

The next thirty minutes are spent in easy, hushed conversations about past shows Julie did at Los Feliz, Sunset Curve, and overall talking about the show. Neither of them know much about it; but they start a running joke that they’ll basically be playing themselves: Overly-confident guy who thinks if he annoys and charms the super cool and talented girl enough, that she’ll like him. 

“I already do,” Julie mutters, emboldened by the dark once their chuckles quiet down. 

“You what?”   
  


“Like you.”

\--

Luke gives her a piggyback ride back to her cabin, and can’t help but feel dazed and happy as he finally allows himself to fall asleep. 

\--

The first month of rehearsals is a blur of stress, newness, and disorientation.    
  


Breaking the ice into being Harold Hill is an uncomfortable confidence test that Luke never saw coming. He needs to say his lines a certain way and interact with other people while he is actively singing, and it is very awkward. As the rest of the ensemble is learning their songs, Luke is trying to bounce up and down on a train seat or trying to read his lines and memorize his blocking at the same time. 

He’s starting to remember why he did not want to do this. 

The jokes in the show are outdated. Miss Harrison is working with him on his delivery, but judging by the way that Alex tries to cover his laughs with a cough, he knows he isn’t saying them like a punch-line. 

Speaking of Alex, thank God that he was cast as Harold Hill’s best friend -- because Julie’s been swept up rehearsing with Carrie, running through their scenes that they have as a family. Carrie plays Julie’s mother, and they seem to be having a little more fun than Luke and Alex are having with their scenes. 

Probably because they have a sense of what the hell is going on. 

When Luke isn’t incorrectly delivering his lines, he’s laughing at everything else. He has an entire song where he is trying to convince a town of zany Iowans that a pool table is going to lead to the downfall of their children -- “Is this for real? This isn’t a joke?” -- “Luke, the point is that it’s ridiculous. Please keep going.” -- and he’ll find himself dissolving into laughter every time they try to run it. 

It also sucks that he barely gets to spend time with Bobby, Reggie, or Julie. He’s barely getting to know the rest of the ensemble because he’s been spending all of his time alone with Miss Harrison to run his songs or with Alex or the supporting guys for the opening scenes. 

Yes, he has scenes with Julie, but they are so focused on the beginning of the show that he only really gets to rehearse with her once or twice a week. 

On one day, Luke is barely skating through a singing rehearsal with Miss Harrison and the ensemble when Julie flings open the doors to the music room. 

Like himself, everybody lights up. She sends him a shy smile -- clearly just there to observe -- but to Luke, it’s simultaneously the biggest confidence booster and most discouraging thing ever. If he messes up, she’ll be right there to witness it. 

(As if she hasn’t already heard about his disastrous rehearsals through the cast rumor mill.)

Shakily, he tries to start his opening dialogue that then transcends into the song, but he quickly finds himself offbeat. Miss Harrison doesn’t visibly react-

Until he makes continuous mistakes the next four times they try to run through it. 

His eyes are squeezed shut, trying to block out the frustrated comments by the rest of the cast when he hears it: “Hey, why don’t I help?”   
  


One of his eyes flutters open just for a glance. Julie is leaning over the piano, whispering to Miss Harrison and stealing the occasional look at a distressed Luke. 

“Sweetie, it’s not your song-”

“I know the tempo well enough. If I have the sheet music in front of me, I’ll sing it with him and at least help him get through a full runthrough with the ensemble.”

As embarrassing as it is that she needs to swoop in to save him -- he needs her to swoop in and save him. Just this once. Maybe he can repay the favor later. 

“Is that okay, Luke? Do you think it would help?”

Looking at Julie, “you think you can keep me on tempo?”

She nods. “And if you mess up, I’ll keep singing so you can pick up and keep going.”

Her talent is wasted on helping him. But when she slides up next to him, leaning into him so that she can see the lines and her arm presses into his, he is selfishly happy about it. 

That day, he completes his first successful runthrough of  _ You’ve Got Trouble,  _ the ensemble hates him slightly less, and he likes Julie even more. 

\--

“Sometimes it blows my mind that my parents are happier with me doing this than anything else.”

“They don’t like the band?”   
  
“They hate the band. Or the guys. Or all of the above.”

“... I’m sorry. That’s unfair.”

“Life isn’t fair a lot of the time,” he shrugs, but then he glances over at her and her empathetic eyes and has to look away. “But sometimes it is.”

\--

That weekend, Reggie coerces the band into coming to one of the Tech Days on Saturday. Apparently, they have to get the majority of set building and costume fittings done on weekends since most people are busy during rehearsal times. The cast is encouraged to come, so Luke decides to try it one time. 

He walks into the big garage at the back of the school where the woodshop is to discover a paint-covered Julie carrying a bench; face clear of all makeup and a baggy sweatshirt hanging from her shoulders. 

When she sees him, and identifies his torn overalls, she lights up. The bench between her fingers slips before she sets it down and swerves through the woodcutting and hammering to greet him. 

“Where have you been hiding these overalls and where can I get my own?”

“My dad’s closet. Really old luxury store that went bankrupt in the 90s. What could you possibly have built to paint already?”

She giggles. Somehow, at ten in the morning on a Saturday, she is radiant with happiness. “They did some benches last week and painting is my favorite thing to do at these things, so I kind of jumped at the opportunity. When I’m done I’ll be costuming.”

“Will you be chasing me down with that searsucker suit you keep warning me about?”

“Oh, ruthlessly. Don’t make it hard for yourself when the time comes.”

Just as he opens his mouth to speak, hoping to continue their banter instead of trying to do any work, Alex races behind him and claps him on the shoulder. 

“He’s the stage manager, and his name is Willie, and I physically cannot carry a conversation with him so you need to be my buffer.”

In the name of his best friend’s anxiety, he supposes he can talk to her later.

“Willie’s awesome,” she jumps in, knowing that they are about to leave. “Good luck with that, Alex.” She turns to Luke. “And I’ll find you later?”   
  
“I’ll be hiding, so good luck.”

The two of them share a grin before Julie spins around and practically bounces in the other direction, towards the bench she temporarily set down. Alex’s arm tightens around Luke’s shoulders. “Shit, you need  _ me _ to be _ your _ buffer, huh?”   
  


“... What?”

“You and Julie? Every time she talks to you, you get this look-” Alex stares distantly off into space, and relaxes his mouth into a hazy smile. “You’re gonna be fire on stage.”

Luke wants to be in denial, desperately. But he knows what Alex is talking about. 

And maybe he’ll be able to leave it on the stage instead of acting on it. 

\--

After a debacle in which Julie was recorded chasing Luke through the halls with a searsucker suit gripped between her fingers (which ended in her cornering him in the bathroom to get him to try it on), Luke and the guys start eating lunch with her. 

Yes, that’s quite the jump. 

But the next Monday after the Tech Day, Julie tracks him down at lunch and pulls him into the drama department’s costume closet because apparently Caleb had already made some of the necessary alterations and wanted to know if it fit “as soon as possible.” After the ten seconds it took to check the fitting, they ended up sitting on the floor with their sandwiches -- don’t tell Caleb that there was food in there -- and ending the lunch period together. 

As fate would have it, they run into each other the next day at lunch, and decide to eat together once again; just with all of their friends that time around. 

That’s how Sunset Curve found themselves sprawled across the blackbox theater alongside Flynn, Julie, and the members of Dirty Candy. 

Expanding his group of friends feels weird -- like he’s stepping out of his comfort zone to grow his family. Sunset Curve will always be brothers, but it didn’t hurt to have more people joining in their fun. Their comradery makes Luke feel comforted despite his flaming fear of fucking up; like he’s got a few more people in his corner now, who want him to succeed. 

“Luke,” Carrie pipes up one day, “are you excited for your stage kiss with Julie?”

He smirks against his water bottle; noticing that Julie furiously slaps Carrie’s arm. “As excited as anybody can be to kiss someone in front of an audience. Kind of sounds weird, but we work it out however we have to, right?”

“I can’t believe you have to kiss Nick too,” Ophelia jumps in. Luke feels his intestines knot together. “Luke, make sure you’re better than Nick.”

Even though air is not really working out for Luke right now, thinking about how apparently now he’s in competition with the last guy he wants to be and Julie has to kiss the both of them, he coughs out an answer. “I mean, I’ll definitely try. You don’t sound like you like him very much.”

The group makes general sounds of agreement at Luke’s comment -- good. He’s not the only one.

He doesn’t even know what part Julie has to kiss Nick at. He doesn’t know how he missed it, either, but he’s going to play along because he doesn’t want to sound like the dumbass that didn’t read the script thoroughly. 

Julie looks a little uncomfortable as she picks through her bag of chips, but she still finds it in herself to stir the conversation for the better. “I had to kiss Nick sophomore year. He’s too stiff. Luke, don’t be stiff and we’ll be fine.”

Everyone in the theater chokes on their food. 

As the girls all squeal and praise Julie for her honesty, Luke feels the golden rush of pride bloom in his chest. 

It shouldn’t be a competition. But they all know it is -- and Luke is childishly ready to win. 

\--

That next week, Luke is waiting for the ensemble to finish a dance rehearsal so that he can start running and blocking the final scene of Act I: The library scene, where he sings one of the most annoying songs known to man. 

He’s got the song --  _ Marian Librarian _ , as it is formally titled -- playing in his earbuds, because while he hasn’t gotten to properly run it with Miss Harrison on piano, he wants to have most of the lyrics memorized for today’s first run. 

As he sits against the lockers, he shuts his eyes and mouths the song to himself. His peace is only interrupted by a startling hand on his shoulder. 

Jolting up from his relaxed position and ripping the speakers from his ears, Julie is rapidly spouting apologies. 

“Shit, sorry! I totally didn’t mean to scare you. I mean, I said your name a few times and you didn’t answer, and obviously you had earbuds in and I was being dumb and-”

Julie isn’t embarrassed often. But when she is, it’s adorable. 

Luke nods down to his right. “Join me, Molina. I’m just waiting for them to wrap up.”

“Cool, right. Thanks.”

Her backpack hits the linoleum with a thump and she carefully slides down the lockers, right to his side. She glances at the wires twisted between his hands. “What song?”

“The worst one.”

“Well, that still leaves two possibilities.”

Oh, God, does it? Maybe he actually needs to go through and listen to all of the songs. He was going to, and then he thought he could postpone some of it until they actually started Act II, and… 

And now confusion was dripping from his every pore.

“There’s a song worse than _ Marian Librarian?  _ Say sike right now.”

With a loud yet endearing cackle, Julie throws her head back. “You haven’t listened to our reprise at the end?  _ 76 Trombones _ and  _ ‘Till There Was You?” _

“... Those songs are two completely different tempos.”

“Oh yes.”

“... And they aren’t even about the same things. One is literally about musical instruments and the other is a love song.”

The female lead hums with a wicked grin. “Awful, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure we’re both on stage, singing next to each other, when it happens.”

“How are we supposed to do it without laughing?”

With a playful shrug, Julie once again dissolves into a fit of giggles, and Luke can’t help but mirror her. “I guess we’ll have to act.”

In mocked disgust, Luke scrunches his nose. “Ugh, _ actually? _ That’s ridiculous.”

As him and Julie both continue chuckling against the lockers, Luke lets out a silent prayer that the dance rehearsal takes a minimum of ten more minutes. Talking to Julie about this show never fails to actually stir some sort of excitement in him despite the struggles he has had this first month. 

“Speaking of acting,” she starts, sitting up straighter, “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Luke calmly hums for her to continue. 

“So, last week, when Ophelia brought up stage kissing and stuff, it occurred to me you probably haven’t had a meaningless kiss with anyone in front of hundreds of people and acted around it and whatever. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable when Miss Harrison starts expecting us to do it in rehearsals when we get closer to performances, so I wanted to tell you if you wanted to ask me anything or talk about it or practice it then I’m here for whatever makes you comfortable.”

Even though a wave of relief crashes over Luke, he can’t help but catch on a single word:

Practice. 

It’s terrible, because this is really awesome of Julie to make clear with him and make sure that their communication is top notch. But the stupid p-word keeps repeating in his mind, and then his eyes drop to her mouth for a millisecond, and he is having some sort of meltdown. 

“Yeah,” he croaks out. “Totally. Uh, thank you. I’ve been definitely curious about it, and, uh…” On instinct, his left hand reaches up to scratch the back of his neck. It helps him tilt his head and divert his eyes. “... Practice?”

Miraculously, Julie seems so calm that it’s making up for the fact that he is currently in a completely opposite state. 

“Practice, yeah. You really want to kiss for the first time while our whole cast is watching and waiting for us to be all awkward about it?”

No. Definitely not. That sounds awful, actually. 

He shakes his head insistently. “No. That is a very good point.”

“Yeah. Exactly. So we practice.”

Suddenly, Luke’s rings are extremely interesting to him despite the fact that he’s been wearing them for five years. Making eye contact with Julie is going to result in him asking a stupid question, and he doesn’t want to be the one to bring it up, but he may as well-

“So, like, when?”

Let’s all pray it doesn’t sound as needy or pushy as he is worried it does. 

Thank God for Julie, because she sits up, looks at him with a pleasant expression, and folds her hands in her lap. “Why don’t we just get the initial awkwardness out of the way right now so I never have to watch you be this weird again?”

Long story short, his brain starts whirling and nothing has even happened. 

She’s right, though; they need to just do it now so that Luke doesn’t think about it all of the time and when the time is going to come. The thought of kissing her should not jazz him up as much as it does -- she’s just his friend, and he’s going to be doing it two times a night for six nights, and he has to get used to it. He can’t act like a teenage boy about it forever. 

“Yeah,” he suddenly nods, without quite processing his actions. “Let’s go for it.”

_ Face first. Full charge.  _ That’s fitting in this situation, right?

Julie wastes no more time in taking his face between her hands and planting one on him -- it’s a quick peck, he barely has time to respond, but the pressure of her lips against his lingers. 

“There. See? Easy.”

He doesn’t get the chance to say anything before the doors swing open and a flood of the ensemble cast pours out. Bobby asks him why he looks like he’s about to go into comatose; Luke brushes it off. 

Even when he drives home, the kiss is fresh in his mind like it happened only seconds ago. 

\--

The second month of rehearsals sets in with exhaustion and mounting tension between Luke and Julie -- and even Nick. 

It kicks off the start of week six, when Miss Harrison is having them run through the scenes closer to the end of the show; blocking them and directing their line delivery. Nick is off to the side as Luke and Julie run through the scene where Harold and Marian meet in private and share their first kiss. 

“Are you two okay to run the kiss right now? If not, I would like you to-”

“No, we’ve gone through it,” Julie answers, efficiently interrupting their director who is appearing to be pleased by this news. 

“Great! And, uh, just checking, have you talked to Nick about your kiss as well by any chance? We’ll be running that next, so-”

This time, it’s Nick who jumps in. And he sounds like such a dick when he does it, too, that it makes Luke flinch. 

“No, Julie and I are good. We’ve already kissed each other a ton with the sophomore year production, so she doesn’t need to walk me through it or anything.”

It’s pure venom that is directed at Luke -- and the guitarist feels his stomach curl at Nick’s every word. The dig at Luke, the way it sounds almost slimy when he talks about kissing Julie; all a recipe for Luke to act out. He’s been wanting to show Nick up this entire rehearsal process so far, and now is his chance. 

That’s why he decides to allow impulsive, crazy Luke to temporarily take over his body. 

Miss Harrison tells them they can start their scene, so Luke and Julie begin their back and forth; and when they hit the cue in the script for Harold and Marian to kiss-

Luke doesn’t disappoint. 

It’s much smoother, much more intentional than when Julie laid one on him in the hall two weeks ago. This isn’t awkward, fish-out-of-water Luke -- this is rockstar Luke who winks at random girls at his gigs. 

The guy who broke into the school, helped Julie sneak out of her cabin and danced with her in a dark, empty room. 

He uses his right hand to press against her back and bring her body much closer to his than it was; and utilizes his left hand to brush his knuckles along her cheek. After his mouth turns up the smallest bit at reading the confusion on her face, he extends his fingers into her hair and guides her face towards his. 

For the time being, her hands are resting comfortably on his arms.

From the start, both of them know it’s different from two weeks ago. Luke’s lips slip between Julie’s with casual ease, and he is confident in taking more control as he quickens their tempo and nips at her bottom lip with his teeth. 

By this point, he’s already taken it too far. But nobody is stopping them. 

He’s relieved at first when Julie doesn’t push him away screaming -- but he is unprepared for one of her hands to slide behind his neck like he always does when he is nervous and run her nails across the skin. The teenage boy in him makes the quietest noise… 

But it’s loud enough for Julie to feel it against her mouth as she parts her lips more under his as a response, and-

Miss Harrison clearing her throat is the triggering sound that gets them to separate; Luke taking heated note of how red and round Julie’s lips are now, and he almost has to remind himself that it’s because of him. 

And then it sets in. 

They just made out in front of Miss Harrison. And Nick. And most of the supporting cast. 

Clearing her throat once again, their director claps her hands once to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, you two. Good job, glad to see you’re comfortable, uh -- try to reel it in just a little. This is a family-friendly show.”

Neither Luke nor Julie meet her eyes as they nod in agreement. 

\--

Julie is probably the coolest person that Luke knows. 

Not only because she’s smart and talented and funny and all that other cool stuff, but because she stays so professional as they keep rehearsing after the kiss. In fact, the only thing that she had said to him was the following:

“I don’t appreciate that you- That you were so enthusiastic about it without talking to me about what we were comfortable with first. That being said, it was good. We should try to do it like that -- toned down a little like Miss Harrison said -- every time we run it.”

He, of course, apologized.

Took ownership of his idiocy, admitted that Nick was pouring gasoline on the fire a little, and agreed that he needed to be much more communicative in the future. But she didn’t have to ask him twice about getting him to repeat the kiss -- in fact, it was starting to worry him; the way his leg would bounce a little in anticipation of running those specific scenes. 

In each runthrough, Luke would bring in the same move of tugging her close with his right hand and pulling her in with his left; and every time they parted, he found himself leaning forward for just a little more. 

Julie complimented him on how in-character it was. 

The issue is that Luke quits acting every time he kisses Julie. 

He should be surprised, but he’s not. Ever since he watched her audition for the show and in every moment since, from pinning him down in lap tag to saving his ass during a singing rehearsal and helping him get through this, was going to end in romantic feelings no matter what. 

She’s Julie Molina. It’s hard not to find yourself pining for her attention. 

So, Luke acknowledges that he has a crush, but he doesn’t focus on it. 

Instead, he pushes himself through the more challenging numbers, finally develops a rhythm with the rest of the cast, and gladly accepts compliments about how well his acting has developed (which is especially evident throughout the show, when he starts looking at  Julie Marian with growing heart eyes).

The best part about his crush on Julie is that it doesn’t really bother him at all. It’s not some great revelation, it’s just a logical way for him to feel about an amazing girl that he feels lucky to know. 

It only helps his performance, and when Bobby comments about how “real” his acting seems; Luke proudly declares it’s because he’s into Julie. 

When the boys respond with a complete and utter lack of surprise, Luke smiles. 

_ Yeah. _ Him and Julie. It makes sense to others, and it makes sense to him. 

He doesn’t have to vy for her attention either -- she rolls her eyes at Nick but laughs at Luke’s jokes. They eat lunch together and laugh during Marian Librarian and their weird duet/reprise at the end that still makes no sense; she helps him with math homework and he edits her essays for English class. He’ll buy her a slushie at lunch if she brings him an extra bag of chips. 

They seamlessly fit together. 

He only realizes that he hasn’t properly thanked her for how much her friendship has helped him until they are once again giggling through their 76 Trombones/’Till There Was You set with Miss Harrison. When their director gives them a five minute water break, Luke revels in the opportunity. 

“Hey,” he all but bounces over to her as she sits on the risers with her water bottle. “I haven’t thanked you.”

She grins against the rim. “For what?”   
  
Shrugging with a boyish smile: “A lot of things. My survival in this show, first of all. I know I’m not the easiest person to work with, but you’ve made me better in a lot of different ways. I’m better at working with other people, dancing, acting… Even singing. So, thank you for putting up with me.”

Julie’s eyes have a sparkle in them from the fluorescent lights, but a little part of Luke hopes it’s because she appreciates the compliment. 

Her response comes without any hesitation. 

“Well, this may surprise you, but you’ve helped me a lot, too. We make each other better.”

Luke knows her well enough to know that when her voice drops to a lower tone, she’s thinking about something that she doesn’t want to discuss farther. So, despite the thrumming of his pulse that he can feel vibrating every atom of his body, he chooses not to pry as to how he could have done anything for her. 

Even though he doesn’t know her reasoning, it’s still one of those little comments that just make Luke feel like he finished an epic set at a gig. He doesn’t know how Julie does it-

But he knows that he feels his heart swoop down in his ribcage before fluttering back up in a somersault, and he knows that his crush is getting more intense with every moment they share. 

\--

“You know,” Julie says to him one day while they’re trying to do a private read-through; but Luke is strumming away on his acoustic instead, “my mom played guitar.”

“Really? That’s sick. Did she play electric ever, or-”   
  
“She was a guitarist in a band, so, yeah. Huge electric fan. Filled every corner of our house when I was little.”

“You guys are so musical in your family. Maybe she’ll let me come over and jam sometime, yeah?”

It’s that day that Luke learns Julie doesn’t have a mom to play music with anymore. And the Bohemian Rhapsody thing makes a hell of a lot more sense.

\--

Tech Week -- or, Hell Week, as Luke prefers  _ not  _ to call it -- hits like a speeding semi truck on the freeway.

The week prior, the ensemble had just finished learning all of the Marian Librarian number for some reason (because they should have finished it a month ago), there were still sets that needed to be painted, and most of the leads were blanking on their second act blocking. 

Needless to say, the show felt a little like a disaster. 

_ “It always fees like this,” Julie tries to convince him while everybody around is pulling their hair out. “It’ll feel like this all week. But opening night? It all clicks into place Like magic.” _

_ Luke strongly doubted it. But who was he to question the one with more experience? _

Tech Week, where they are to spend hours upon hours in the auditorium blocking everything with the set pieces, lighting cues, and the pit orchestra playing for them -- was waiting to break them. 

Night one is a blur of Luke running around backstage with Julie, from costuming to the stage to say their cue lines and fix their blocking and then back to the audience seats where they would make poor attempts to progress through some homework. 

Everyone was everywhere, Mr. Covington was growing impatient with the “incompetent” ensemble, and Luke just wanted to spend a moment with Julie but their timing was never right. They were constantly needed elsewhere. 

Finally, when dinner rolled around, Luke was in line to get his plate while talking to Reggie, Alex and Bobby when a surprise pair of arms slid around his torso in a hug from the side. 

When he peaked down, he was met with the sight of Julie’s curls; frizzy from all of the running around that the day had in store. The guys snicker around him -- probably because an exhausted, dopey smile grows on his face -- but he blocks them out and focuses on the Julie Molina hug that he is the happy recipient of.

“I’m so hungry,” she mumbles into his sweatshirt as he lets his arms fall around her. “I’m about to eat ten slices of pizza and you can’t judge me for it.”

He rubs her arms and back with a sigh. “Me too. It’s been a long day.”

When she props her chin on his chest to look up at him, he almost leans down and kisses her. 

Almost. 

(He doesn’t.)

“At least our scenes are coming up though,” her voice mumbles. “I love Carrie to death, but I can tell she’s teetering on a mental breakdown because she keeps messing up different words in her Irish accent and it’s really just because she’s trying too hard but she is about to drive herself insane. She kept stopping and starting her lines and I found myself begging to get to our reprise already.”

The thought of her wanting to run her scenes with him spreads warmth through his stomach. When Julie became his favorite source of happiness, Luke didn’t know. 

But, all of the sudden, everything  _ her  _ just filled him with helium. 

“I’m sorry.” He tells her, sincerely, because he is. He expected this week to be hard on him, but seeing it wear her down hurts. “I personally think that Marian needs to sing You’ve Got Trouble with Harold because I’m starting to fuck up the tempo without you again.”

Her chuckles are muffled into his chest. “You’ll get it again. Maybe if we have a free moment, we can run it later.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Silly. Anything to get you ready for opening night.”

There it is. The swooping and somersaulting that gets deeper and stronger whenever Julie pulls something like this. 

“Okay,” he agrees, “then you better eat those ten slices fast.”

\--

“What’s your favorite song? In the show, I mean?”

“No idea. They’re all kind of bugging me right now, why?”

“I don’t know. That  _ Lida Rose _ one after  _ Shipoopi  _ where I come and sing with the quartet is really pretty isn’t it?”   
  
“I mean, I guess…?”   
  
“Sometimes, I just wish I didn’t have to be on stage so I could close my eyes and listen for once.”

\--

On night two, Carrie finally breaks down. 

(Actually, half of Dirty Candy breaks down. But Luke doesn’t know what happened with Chloe or Trix, he only knows why Carrie snapped.)

Her throat had apparently grown sore the night before, and that shocking issue combined with annoyance at the pit orchestra for fucking up the music -- even though Carrie didn’t sing much -- was lighting match and throwing it into gasoline. 

In Carrie’s defense: The pit was an actual disaster. The conductor, Mrs. Parker, found herself in continuous arguments with Mr. Covington about how he used the wrong music to choreograph and how she needs to include more defining features of the recorded tracks that they choreographed to in order for the cast to hear their cues. 

The tension was poorly influencing the rest of the cast, and it was yet another night of stupid mistakes. 

As he paced the hallways and tried to mumble “You’ve Got Trouble” to himself until his tongue fell off, he almost ran into Julie as she left the girls bathroom, rubbing her tired eyes. 

Instantly, Luke held his arms open for a hug; which she threw herself into. 

“Hey… Is Carrie okay?”

Her arms squeeze around him. “She just needs a minute. Poor thing is putting so much pressure on herself. And I’m about to throw myself into the pit because the orchestra keeps fucking up my cues, and I’m spending too much time on stage because we keep running it when I need to finish some reading for English, and-”

Because he knows she likes it, Luke takes to running his fingers up and down her spine; feeling her muscles relax against his torso. 

“I know,” he murmurs, surprisingly loud in the dead hallway. “I know. You need a minute. Take a deep breath and just rest. You gotta take care of yourself. It’s a crazy week.”

“You’re right.” She pauses. “I’m surprised I’m not the one holding you while you fall apart.”

“Eh, I get just the comfort I need like this.” He emphasizes his point with an extra squeeze on her arms, and she hums in reaction. For a few moments, they stand there, hugging; drawing the assurance that they need from each other through such a simple action. 

They are probably needed somewhere, but nobody has come to retrieve them. 

“Can I ask a really weird favor?” Julie pulls away from him a little, leaving her hands at his hips but leaning back to look at him. “Like, if you’re uncomfortable then say no, but I need something to just take my mind off of everything right now, and-”

“Jules, I’d do just about anything for you. Tell me what I can do to help.”

Luke is expecting an odd request, like reading her English book out loud to her or covering for her while she takes a nap. He doesn’t expect-

“Can we go practice our kiss?”

The request doesn’t quite click at first -- he takes it at face value. “I mean, sure; we’ve done our kiss in rehearsal almost every night though-”

“I mean can we _ practice _ our  _ kiss? _ Like, uh…” She gnaws on her bottom lip. “Like somewhere where they won’t find us for a few minutes?”

There’s no way she’s asking what he is so, desperately hoping she is asking. It’s probably meaningless to her, but he’ll give her whatever she wants; so he lets her take the lead. 

“Yeah! I mean, totally, uh… Where did you have in mind?”

That’s how Luke finds himself tucked away in one of the small band practice rooms with Julie straddling his lap on a piano bench as she kisses him in a way that they could never do onstage. 

Her hands are running through his hair and her hips are pressing against his and he has no idea what any of it means. 

“God,” she sighs against his mouth when he pulls her in, “I needed this. I fucking hate tech week.”

In any other moment in time, Luke would drop everything to listen to Julie speak. 

But now, he’s in a rare position where he gets to ravish her as much as she wants and have no consequences for it; and he’s afraid that this is much more important than Julie’s complaints. To acknowledge what she said, he hums and applies pressure to the juncture where her neck and shoulders meet to relieve some of the tension that he knows has been building.

When he swallows her words and pulls her bottom lip between his teeth, she doesn’t complain any more. 

\--

It’s night three when Julie unexpectedly falls apart. 

One minute, Luke is running one of his beginning scenes with Alex that’s about to transition into the town hall scene, but the moment he steps offstage to allow the stage technicians to move in the set pieces, one of the parent volunteers who was helping with dinner approaches him. 

“You’re Luke, right?”

Weary, he nods. He doesn’t know whose mom it is, he just knows it’s a mom. “... Yeah, why?”

His response is a sad smile. 

“Okay, I don’t know if you have a cue soon, but Julie’s, uh, Julie is having a moment in the bathroom and she insisted I asked for you.”

In a single sentence, there is a lot for Luke to process at once. 

Yes, he does have a cue. It’s in literal seconds. 

But Julie’s having “a moment”? What does that mean? Is that…

Is that her trying to lure him into a private place to make out again? She wouldn’t do that if she knew they were running through the show. Is she in actual trouble?

_ Why in the world would she ask for him, of all people, if she is? _

Luke decides regardless of the reason, Julie needs him. And if the parent volunteer is serious enough to seek him out and send him Julie’s way, then it might be urgent. 

Julie needs him. 

So, ignoring his cue, he takes off out of the auditorium and sprints towards the bathrooms next to the blackbox theater. They’re the closest bathrooms to the auditorium excluding the ones in the dressing rooms; but Luke prays that Julie would choose the more secluded option and not make him awkwardly pass his changing castmates.

The girls bathroom is empty, and the only audible sound is heavy breathing and choking coming from the bigger stall. 

“Julie?”

Luke distinctly hears the sound of the stall lock sliding open; so he pulls the door back and finds Julie with puffy, red-rimmed eyes and a face coated with a thin layer of tears. 

Thank God they weren’t doing makeup for these run throughs.

She doesn’t look up at him -- it almost seems that the sight of him makes her break a little bit more. But he still does not hesitate in closing the space between them and encompassing her smaller frame in his arms; holding her as close as he can without hurting her and almost trembling with concern as to what the hell could have happened. 

  
“Take a deep breath, please, Jules, take a deep breath.” 

He starts breathing heavily and slowly in and out in an attempt to get her to match his pace. Eventually, after his hand rubs up and down her back and another hand is smoothing over her hair; the uneven breathing comes to an end. 

“Okay,” Luke mumbles, “good. Good job. Thank you.”

Luke knows he doesn’t want to push this. The question, “what happened and what can I do to fix it,” lies on the tip of his tongue.

But asking won’t get him anywhere. Julie doesn’t answer questions. She tells you, or she doesn’t.

One of her drawn-out exhales falls on his costume, and he can practically feel the warm air seep through the fabric. “Thank you for coming. I’m sorry, I know you’re doing a runthrough, I just-”

“It’s okay.” Boldly, Luke tucks in his chin that was resting on her head and lays a kiss on the top of her head. “Whatever it is, it’s okay. You know that.”

“I just got really freaked out.”

“Okay.”

“Mr. Covington made a comment about the fact that I skipped last year, and I just… He’s so heartless sometimes. I know he’s frustrated, but  _ fuck, _ my mom fucking died and now you’re digging at me because I needed a break?”

Once again, Luke is struck with the insecurity that he’s felt familiarly throughout the show that sometimes he’s totally missed some things. He felt it when Ophelia mentioned Julie and Nick’s stage kiss, he felt it at auditions when they were playing all sorts of games, and he feels it now. 

He knew that Rose Molina died. 

He just didn’t know it was two years ago -- or that Julie stepped away from drama because of it. 

But right now is obviously not the time to unpack all of that. Julie is still tightly clutching his back with tears escaping her eyes, and he has a bigger job to do right now than question her past before they were friends. 

“Mr. Covington’s a dick, Jules. We all know that, but… What did he say? Exactly?”

Julie sniffles, and adjusts herself so that her cheek is hovering right above his heart. “He decided to make some kind of blazer-jacket thing, but it was last minute so he used the old measurements he had from sophomore year and it obviously didn’t fit. So he was refitting me and just going on about how  _ ‘he was limited in his options’ _ and  _ ‘this is what happens when you leave us for a year’ _ and I just felt like I was being punished.”

There has been many a time during this show that Luke has wanted to absolutely deck Mr. Covington. 

Right now is definitely number one on that list. 

This was one of the nasty sides that Luke discovered to the theater department -- involvement was key. If you take time off, you are nearly exiled during that period because you don’t know what is going on with the show you aren’t involved in.

It especially helped one get cast in larger roles -- him and Julie just appeared to be exempt this year. He understood why Julie would be, because who would deprive an audience of such a voice because she didn’t do a couple of shows? 

Maybe that’s why nobody really talked about her hiatus: Because she still deserved to be here, and she was ready to work hard with everything she had to prove it. 

“You’re not being punished,” Luke says firmly. “Mr. Covington is an absolute asshole. But no one else here is punishing you. You made a decision for yourself and your health and if he wants to punish you for that then he can fuck off.”

At last, the choked sound coming from Julie’s lips is a laugh rather than a sob. 

“He  _ can _ fuck off.”

“Totally. And I’ll tell him myself.”

Calm, and suddenly deciding that she’s comfy; Julie clasps her hands behind Luke’s back and hums into his shoulder. “Maybe wait until closing night.”   
  
“What’s he gonna do? Fire me?”   
  
“He’ll throw a tantrum and quit. And unless you want to organize everyone’s costumes onto the racks-”

“I barely know half of the freshmen’s names-”

“-Then maybe lay off until after closing.”

Luke wants to keep playfully arguing, because this is his favorite version of him and Julie. The back-and-forth that started their friendship and turned them into whatever they are now; the rhythm he hopes that they won’t lose when they aren’t sharing a stage for hours every day. 

However, Julie is almost asleep in his arms, and he has to go geet scolded by Miss Harrison for missing a cue. So he grins despite himself and tugs her shoulders a little closer. 

“Whatever you want, Boss.”

\--

Julie straddling Luke in the green room to help him with his makeup is not the way that he envisioned opening night -- but he is definitely not complaining. 

Everyone is emotionally railed from tech week and dress rehearsal the night before; and common phrase ringing through the halls from each cast member is “it’s a shitshow.”

But Julie keeps reassuring that the puzzle pieces find each other themselves; and Luke rolls his eyes with a reluctant “okay.” He doesn’t know how an audience will magically solve all of the errors they have made, especially when he finds out it’s a packed house. 

In fact, the idea of the auditorium being at max capacity convinces him that he’s going to fuck up.

“Please stop sweating, Babe,” Julie mumbles as she wipes a makeup sponge along his forehead, “I haven’t put the powder on yet.”

The “Babe” thing is something new she started the night before at dress rehearsal; when she whisked him away during dinner and pushed him against the wall for a passionate few minutes by themselves. When they realized their meal time was almost over, Julie pressed one final rushed kiss to his lips with her hands cupping his face before going “thanks, Babe” and dashing away. 

Once again, Luke is not even close to complaining. 

He just doesn’t really know what the fuck is going on -- but hey, he can live with that. 

“I can’t really tell myself to stop sweating, Boss. It’s a packed house.”

“Yes, we all heard her.”

“And this is my first show. My first real show.”

“Mhm.” 

It sounds so ridiculous -- he’s played clubs and gigs and fought for record deals before, so why is he so worried about this? Luke Patterson is a badass. He’s the lead guitarist and lead singer for Sunset Curve, so why is being a lead in this show any different?

Maybe because his parents are in the audience, clutching programs with his name. 

Maybe because he is playing the literal Music Man with no prior theater experience. 

Maybe because Julie is right next to him, and he wants to not fuck it up more for her than himself.

“I know you're stressed,” Julie starts as she unscrews the cap of a tube of mascara. “Tilt your head back-” Luke complies, and she starts applying the eye makeup. “Anyway. I know you’re stressed. But you are about to go own that stage, and we are about to kill it together.”

She’s delicately cradling his head to hold him still as she finishes his right eye, and his eyes follow her moving around in front of him. 

“You promise the puzzle solves itself?”

Her tongue sticks out between her teeth as she puts the finishing touches on his left lashes. “I promise. And if I’m wrong, you can punish me however you’d like.”

Luke’s whole body goes hot -- not really helping the whole “stop sweating” demand she gave him less than five minutes ago. If she feels his body heat under her, he can’t tell just by looking at her. All he sees is her self-righteous grin as she closes the mascara. 

“However, I’m never wrong. So expect to be amazed tonight, Patterson.”

It’s correct that she’s never wrong, but he’s still uneasy. 

Everything after that moves in a blur -- finishing touches on hair and costume; taking his place on the bench “train seats” for the opening number; straightening his back and unfolding the newspaper in front of his face as he listens to the orchestra play through the overture. 

He shuts his eyes and opens them to see the stage nights raining onto them.

Julie winds up being right about everything. 

The first numbers that Luke is in go off without a hitch. The ensemble suddenly is sharp in every movement of choreography, he keeps the tempo without so much as a stutter, and Carrie’s Irish accent is back and better than ever. 

Luke doesn’t get many opportunities to just watch from offstage -- oh, the tumultuous life of being a lead -- but he is lucky enough to have nowhere he needs to be when Julie is cued to sing  _ Goodnight, My Someone.  _

It’s an intimate moment -- truly just Julie and the audience. 

And it finally occurs to Luke why anybody would want to do this. The dancing and singing and acting and stress and time and effort, all of it. 

Just to feel this magic; just to watch the puzzle solve itself before their eyes. To just be an observer for a moment and be drawn in by the power of whoever is onstage. The audience can’t look away from her and neither can he, because this is what theater is. 

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

Miss Harrison appears at his right side, watching Julie with a fond expression. Luke shakes his head. 

“Amazing doesn’t even cover it.”

For the rest of the song, he and the director stand in still time as Julie is the commander of their attention. When it’s over, and the audience is nearly on their feet, Luke mimes applause -- they can’t actually clap backstage -- and gladly lifts her up when she shuffles offstage and throws her arms around him.

The hug is brief, seeing as how the stage technicians are rushing set pieces onstage for the transition and Julie has to go change, but it's a rush of energy and joy that Luke never understood until right then. 

And then she’s slipping out of his arms, and the next scene is starting, and the show must go on.

\--

Their duet at the end is performed better than they have ever rehearsed it. 

The song is still ridiculous -- and grossly unromantic -- but the sheer action of singing it with Julie, after so many days and evenings spent making fun of it, is inherently romantic in itself. Luke doesn’t water down his smile as he sings to her and holds her hands, and he catches her almost giggle through a line.

Ever the professional, she doesn’t -- but he can tell she wants to. 

When curtain call strikes and the two of them run in front of the lined up ensemble and supporting cast, Julie squeezes his hand as they take their bows and the audience leaps to their feet. 

Luke takes creative liberty in stepping aside and extending an arm to Julie; basking in the way the crowd roars out to praise her performance. Her eyes are glistening under the golden light, and she repeats the action to him as a courtesy -- but he’s tempted to just throw it back to her. 

No amount of applause could fill to what he thinks she deserves. 

As the audience starts to pack up, and the curtain closes, Julie is almost jumping on top of him. The nasally sound of her voice when she talks clues him into the fact that her eyes weren’t so shiny because of the stage lights, but because she was tearing up. 

“First show I’ve done without my mom in the audience,” she whispers into his ear. They’re both sweaty, and the identifiable smell of her makeup flushes his senses, but it's her. And on her, it’s nothing short of perfect. “And I think it was amazing.”

Although he loves when they banter -- there’s no arguing with her here.

\--

Closing night hits harder, emotionally, than tech week did. 

Nobody told Luke that he was going to get attached. It was probably the one thing Julie didn’t teasingly warn him about, because nobody expected it from Luke “lock your emotions in a safe and only unlock the safe when you’re writing a song” Patterson.

But as he bounces on the train during the opening number and warns the town of River City, Iowa that their kids will be corrupt over a pool table, it occurs to him that this is the last time he’ll do it. 

That it’s the last time he’ll watch Julie belt  _ Goodnight, My Someone _ ; or smile at the sweet tones of _ Lida Rose.  _

The flowers that he bought Julie that sit in the dressing room flash in his mind as their hands intertwine for their duet. Nick glared at the bouquet when he saw it, and Luke knows it’s because he didn’t think of doing it. 

But anything that Nick does, or doesn’t do, is not of Luke’s concern. 

Because Nick isn’t the one that Julie pulls up the stairs leading to the catwalk -- where it is extremely dark and hard to see anything -- to hold him close and share exhilarating kisses while trying to avoid mussing each other up too obviously. 

It’s hard to hide when Luke and Julie’s peach and brown foundation rubs off on each other’s cheeks and foreheads; and when her plum lipstick is clearly marked along his jaw. 

Oh well. It’s the best ten minutes of his night, so he wears the lip prints with pride. 

The rest of the show speeds by and Luke barely gets the chance to savor it before the final curtain call ends and the audience lights slowly turn back on.

Most of the cast shuffles out to meet family or friends in the lobby, where Luke is greeted with the warmest hug he’s probably ever received from his mother and praise that “it was just as good as the first night, maybe even better!”   
  
He’s going back to the band after all of this, and they know it.

He just wishes that he could live in this ray of their pride for another moment. Because as soon as next week hits, and he’s getting on his bike to head over to Bobby’s garage; the lights will dim. 

Emily will be back at his throat, Mitch will rub his forehead with disappointment, and he will probably act out again.

He doesn’t want to, though. 

Not when Julie jumps on his back after talking to her family, who lingers behind her; and greets the Patterson parents with a blinding smile. 

If she can have faith in him, maybe they can too. And maybe Luke can hold onto her light to fuel his own. 

Once the lobby is empty, there is more work to be done. Everyone has to strip from their costumes, get cleaned up, and report to various stations that are working on erasing the existence of the musical in the auditorium. Dismantling sets, organizing laundry, scrubbing the dressing rooms clean, and more. 

Julie is on dressing room cleanup, so when Luke is pulled away by Bobby with an electric drill to take apart one of the structures, he presses a fleeting kiss to her makeup-free forehead and tells her there’s something for her in his room. 

His next hour is spent in close quarters with piles of painted wood, but it is well worth it when Julie slides in front of him as he is pulling his phone from his backpack, and lifts onto her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck to gift him with a soft kiss. 

He wants to ask if this is a thing now. 

But Willie is interrupting and thanking him for his help, and then Luke and Julie are distracted by the way he walks over to wrap an arm around Alex and lead them out of the auditorium, and that becomes the talk of the night.

Flynn urges Julie and Luke to join most of the upperclassmen cast at a cast party that Carrie is hosting; an invitation which Julie reluctantly responds to. 

Her arm is snaking around Luke’s back, as she tells Flynn she might make an appearance later, and it’s enough to convince him to respond identically as he straightens up to hide the shivering that Julie’s fingernails triggered.

The next two hours are spent in the backseat of Julie’s car in a random parking lot after they burst, giggling, into a 7-11 for slushies and Red Bulls. 

He could hardly keep his hands off of her when she was trying to pour her energy drink into her icy one, and his teeth scraping against her ear may or may not have been the cause of the Red Bull splotch on her sweats. 

“It’ll wash out,” Luke chuckles against her neck; overpowered by the sound of her slurping her mixed beverage so that it doesn’t overflow. A kiss is pressed to her pulse point. “You were fucking amazing tonight.”

One wouldn’t expect Julie’s favorite thing to hear in these private moments with Luke to be his obsessive, undying praise -- but it’s exactly what coaxes her mouth to his with an amused hum. 

“Mm, you were great too. _ God _ , it’s nice to do this without the stage makeup.” 

Her mouth relocates to his neck, and her tongue and teeth tease at his collar bone, and she doesn’t have to worry about a mouthful of foundation hitting her mouth. 

Luke dives one of his hands into her hair which is now beautifully running wild, despite the slight stick of the hairspray she used throughout the show. The sound she makes is just what he had been missing when they were chastely kissing in quick interactions or on stage, in front of their families. “You can say that again. Don’t have to be afraid of Mr. Covington lashing me later.”

Her cherry slushie leaves a tart trace of sugar on her lips. As Luke finally has the time and privacy to take his time with Julie, he swipes his tongue across her bottom lip and is flooded with fruit-flavoring and sweetness when their parted lips collide. 

He doesn’t know what’s going on at Carrie’s party, but it is definitely not better than being Julie in the way that he thinks about 90% of the time and misses every time she has to leave their bubble. 

It might be the rush of midnight falling on the world outside, the fact that they just wrapped up a production that was months in the making, or the thought that this might be his and Julie’s last secret rendezvous together -- but Luke feels a little invincible as he runs one of his hands down her thigh and brings her leg over his lap to pull her right in front of him. 

In between kisses, he pauses; and pulls away enough to see her face illuminated by a nearby street light. 

“God, you’re stunning.”

Julie tries to hide her smile by leaning in to kiss him, but he still sees the shadow of it before it’s being stamped on his mouth by hers. Even though he could easily lose himself in this, in her, he can’t help when the praise tumbles from his lips like it’s his last chance to say it.

“You’re so talented, Julie, and-” She deepens their kisses; but it doesn’t stop him. “I’m in awe of you. All of the time.”

A clumsy “and I think I love you” almost follows, but Julie’s pulling away, and he’s worried that it’s all over. He killed the mood. He ruined it. 

“... Really?”

Insecurity is not the expected response. But it is significantly preferred to getting kicked out of her car.

His hands once again find themselves tangling in her hair as he shakes his head, continuously blown away by how she doesn’t see it sometimes. 

“C’mon, Jules. Don’t play with me.”

“I’m not!” Her giggle is music to his ears. 

“You know how amazing you are.”

“But- It’s just weird. Having you say it all the time. You’ve been saying it since we barely knew each other.”

“Do you- Is it annoying? Do you not like it?”

She’s quick to correct him on that one. “No! No, I love it, trust me. It just kinda stuns me sometimes, how easily you say all of it to me. Like I’m some mythical creature.”

To him, she is. And he doesn’t know how to respond without saying just that, because it’s true. 

“Well,” Luke starts, twisting a stiff curl that is falling from her forehead. “I mean, to me… You got me to like musical theater. And I not only liked doing the show, but I loved spending time with you. I don’t know what happened. One minute, I was just your acquaintance, and the next minute I was staring at a door and waiting for you to walk into a room.”

Almost painfully, the lines in her forehead come to crease as she goes back in to softly and slowly move her lips against his. It’s a tempo change; but a welcome one. 

“Is that going to go away now that the show is over?”

He’s simultaneously shocked and not surprised by the fact that Julie was the one to ask. She’s been the one to initiate most everything up to this point; but has carefully danced around the motivations behind her actions. 

Even now, in asking, she hasn’t confirmed nor denied that she feels the same way. 

But if the strain of her voice is any indication, she doesn’t want it to end. 

“No,” Luke shakes his head. “It’s not. I’m pretty sure it’s actually going to get worse, now that I won’t have rehearsal to see you every day. I’ll just miss you more.”

In his head, he is praying desperately that this is the right answer to her question. His hands are frozen on each side of her waist and her fingers are twisting little circles in his hair, and there is an all-too-real lump in his throat. 

Finally, she lets out a deep breath through a wide smile. “Sometimes I forget you’re a songwriter. You’re so poetic sometimes.”

“I would have used one of the lyrics from the show, but none of them really fit,” he whispers into the space between them. “All I can think of is  _ ‘oh, Lida Rose, won’t you be mine.’” _

“Is this you asking me out on a date, Patterson?”

“It;s me asking you to be my girlfriend, actually. Pretty sure they say  _ ‘won’t you be mine’ _ and not  _ ‘won’t you go out with me.’” _

If she can be coy and confident enough to avoid admitting her feelings for him out loud, he can have the nerve to be straightforward enough for the both of them. 

In mocked surprise, Julie’s jaw drops. “That’s very forward of you, Mr. Patterson.”

“I’m a forward guy.” He taps his thumbs against her sides as he looks up at her; eyes sparking with amusement. “So… Do you have an answer?”   
  
“Hmm… Sing it to me.”   
  
“Sing-”

“Sing the line to me.”

She knows what she does to him, her confidence and her fire, and that he will do anything she wants. He’s told her so before. So he clears his throat, tries to recall what vocal range out of the four in the quartet suits him, and recites the line as Julie closes her eyes to savor her favorite song:

  
  
_ “Oh, Lida Rose, won’t you be mine?” _

“Wow, you really meant anything when you said you would do anything for me, huh?”

Out of jovial frustration that she seems to be unable to give him a direct answer, Luke flips them so that her back is now lying flat against the seat and he is on top of her; pressing light and ticklish kisses up and down her neck as he squeezes his fingers up and down her sides. 

“Oh my God, Luke- Luke! Yes, yes! Of course!”

As soon as she answered his question, his attack relented; and he lifted himself off of her to give her more wiggle room. 

“Really?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” she chuckles, “how could I not fall for a guy who watched me sleep and then broke into a building so that we could dance together?”

Neither of which are Luke’s finest moments. But if she finds them endearing, then maybe he can find it in himself not to scream internally when he thinks about it. 

He also doesn’t miss the way she used the word “fall.” His heart does it’s Circ de Solei routine again, like that was just the word it was looking for, and just like that -- it hits him that he totally fell for Julie Molina. 

But, again, how could anybody not?   
  


\--

Luke opts out of doing the Spring Play later that year to focus on Sunset Curve. Julie and Nick are cast alongside each other, clear of any stage kisses-

But Luke is happy to still be the one kissing her offstage -- at school, at their houses, or (his favorite) the lobby after the show; with a bouquet of flowers tucked under his arm. 

At one time, Luke thought that getting shipped to military school would have been better than doing the Winter Musical. 

But when Julie’s hand wraps up in his, or they’re studying together on her couch or singing to each other during a band rehearsal, Luke thinks that nothing could have ever been better than this; because sometimes, life can be more rewarding than you realize.

**Author's Note:**

> well. i am exhausted!!! there was so much i wanted to include but wanted to zero in on that relationship development and it took 20k to do it but here we are thank you so much for reading babes!!!!!!!!


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